EverGreen
by MobyDickAteMeLeg
Summary: The chronicles of four friends and their epic adventures through the world of MapleStory. A Penlsland Guild fanfic. The writing isn't too great, but I tried my best.
1. Chapter 1: Shu'Ah Forest

Chapter One: Shu'Ah Forest

"Hey! Vader, wake up!"

Vader was violently thrown from his hammock following this scream. With a small yelp, he collapsed all over the ground. Opening his eyes lazily, he was able to make out his sister's grinning, mocking face, blurrily.

"Wake up!"

"I'm up, I'm up."

Vader picked himself up, still in his pajamas. His sister was fully dressed, with her red skirt, yellow shirt, and all. In her hand was a small, yellow razor blade. The yellow complimented her brown hair he supposed, which were spiky as if she spent all her time testing various brands of cheap hair gels designed for teenage boys.

"Only about a month left in Summer…. Christ Vi, can't you leave me alone?" said Vader.

"No, you promised we'd go out and kill an Orange Shroom today! You promised" whined Violet.

Vader sighed. He did indeed, promise his little sister Violet that they would go out and kill their first Orange Mushroom that day.

Vader lived in a rather sleepy village on Maple Island. All villages on the small island were sleepy, but even by the high standard of sleepiness set by the colony, this one merited the status. The village was inhabited by about four other families, other than Vader's own. Like Vader's father, and most everybody else on Maple Island, they were all ex-Guardians, retired from their life as Guardians, come to Maple Island to settle down peacefully. Vader and Violet were kept company by Dreidel and Vulpes, their neighbors. Dreidel and Vulpes were both older than Vi, but neither of them were as near as energetic as eleven year old Violet. She first started hacking up snail, using sharp tree branches, on her eight birthday. Unlike Vader, she did not show a moment of hesitation when she began screaming and charging at the shelled menaces, easily destroying them in two hits or so. Vader didn't kill a single snail until he turned thirteen, a source of much teasing from Vulpes.

"How do you intend to become a Guardian someday, if you're too scared to kill Spores?", Vulpes would ask.

"Maybe I don't want to become a Guardian. Maybe I just want to be left alone." Vader responded.

"But you're always talking about adventures, and traveling around the world, seeing better things."

"I know. Who says only Guardians can travel and see the world?"

"Guardians are the best. Everybody knows that. Someday, I'm gonna become an ass kicking Dragon Knight, and fight Jr. Balrog and all those Dark Followers! Then everybody on this island will have to respect me!"

For all his bravado, Vulpes was not as nearly as powerful as one may expect. He was certainly in better shape than Vader, and he was certainly more fearless (although one could argue most of this fearlessness came from his adrenaline induced bravado). But his aiming was off, which was problematic when one was fighting faster monsters, like Spores. For his fourteenth birthday, Vulpes got a small Spear from his father. Excited, Vulpes used it to kill a few Red Snails, a feat he was incredibly proud of, and carried it to the Academy everyday. During lunch time, he showed the spear off to everybody, swinging it, stabbing in the air, and performing all kinds of moves with it, until he accidentally stabbed Vader's lunch, which carried some fish that he caught last weekend. He stabbed it with such force, it did not come off. Vulpes angrily threw the spear away, until Vader showed him that the spear could be used as an extremely effective fishing tool, as well as a hunting weapon. Since then, Vulpes and his spear were inseparable.

Maple Island was peaceful, for the most part, but it did have its share of monsters. Snails, of course, were there. Snails were mostly impossible to eliminate, as they dwelled underground and reproduced faster than rabbits. Another tolerated presence on the island were Spores and Orange Mushrooms, both monsters considerably stronger than snails. Orange Mushrooms were small monsters, about the size of a dog, with white stems and orange caps. They had small eyes, and a slit below their eyes, which appeared to be a mouth of some sort. They were mostly pests, but their caps were often made for delicious, high quality cooking. Maple Island was famous for its high quality orange shroom caps, its main export to other nations of Victoria Island and Ossyria. Orange Mushrooms lived in packs, and every pack was controlled by a Mushmom, a massive, monstrous beast of legendary deadliness. A Mushmom was formed when a large group of Orange Mushrooms fused into one. Maple Island had its Mushmom, but it was tamed and kept in captivity by Mai, the village's local warrior. Using control over Mushmom, they were able to control the Island's Orange Shroom population, but recently, people began complaining about a large influx of shrooms. Vulpes, being the wannabe Guardian he was, had an idea to go out and kill some Orange Mushrooms to help the villagers.

"Don't be stupid," Vader said, "You've never killed anything stronger than a Red Snail before. How do you figure we'll kill an Orange Mushroom?"

"It's not so hard. I checked out this book out of the library the other day, 'The Anatomy and Functions of an Orange Mushroom'. I've been reading it for about a month, and I think I know everything there is to know on Shrooms. We can do this."

Not too long after Vulpes declared his mastery over all things orange and fungal, Violet was overtaken by his bravado and began to boast on about how many orange mushrooms she would kill. Dreidel, being Vi's pet, started agreing with her, and pretty soon, Violet forced a promise out of Vader. That he would come with her to join up with Dreidel and Vulpes to kill Orange Shrooms.

"It'll be fun. Maybe we can even convince Mai to let us see Mushmom." Said Vi.

Vader highly doubt that Mai would let them see Mushmom. They were all just Beginners, below normal Guardians. Yes, they were all technically above non-users, or people who were not Guardians at all. But still, Beginners? In Victoria Island, Beginners' duties involved mainly following around full-fledged Guardians and helping them out, picking up items left by fallen monsters, carrying their lesser items, stuff like that. Rarely did Beginners get to kill anything, even snails were considered too uppity by some Guardians.

"You run too slow! Come on!" Vi shouted at Vader. Vader gasped for breath. He couldn't keep up with his sister's level of energy, at all.

"Hold up, where's Munchkinz?" Vader asked, trying to keep his mind off the exhaustion.

"Meow!"

With a loud meow, a cat popped out of Vi's backpack and latched itself on to Vader's face, causing him to fall. The cat then took itself off and began licking Vader's face.

"Vi! Get this thing off of me!"

"Shut up, meow! Stupid nooblet! I should feed you to Mushmom, meow!"

Vi barely got Munchkinz off me, and even then, it got off shouting all kinds of curses and death threats at me. Munchkinz was Violet's Guardian Pet. Guardian Pets were different from normal pets. They weren't normal animals. They were specially manufactured, enhanced dolls, equipped with various features to help their owners, brought to life with the Water of Life. Vi got Munchkinz for her tenth birthday. It manifested itself in the form of a cat. It had a violent personality and loved nothing more than tormenting Vader. The only thing it seemingly obeyed was Violet herself, and even then, it took Vi almost two years before it finally warmed up to her and accepted her as a worthy master. Vader always thought this as weird. When Violet received Munchy, she also received a Pet Owner's Manual. Vader often sneaked the guide away and read it when Vi wasn't using it, which was always. The manual clearly stated that a pet would not accept its owner as a master until the owner proved himself, or herself, worthy as a powerful Guardian. Vi wasn't a Guardian yet. She was barely a Beginner.

After about five whole minutes of running like crazy, they reached the outskirts of Shu'Ah Forest, or Mushroom Forrest. As far as anybody was concerned, it was Mushroom Forrest. Just the name alone should tell you a lot about this place. The Mushroom Forrest is banned from anybody under the age of 25 in the village, and for a good reason. The place is completely infested with Orange Mushrooms. On the other side of the field was a tomato farm. It was rumored among young students that the forest was also inhabited by Pigs, but this was unlikely. Vulpes and Dreidel stood before the forest's entrance, before the dusty trail that ominously led its walker inside if one kept walking through it.

"Just in time. You guys ready?" asked Vulpes.

"Hell yeah! Let's kill some Shrooms!" Violet shouted.

"Don't be so loud. If anybody knows we're here, we're dead." Said Dreidel.

Vader looked at his sword. It was an old, hand-me-down given to him by his father, Mandraken. He used to use it when he was a Beginner, long before he became a White Knight, then retired. It was beaten up, thin, and looked about ready to snap in half any time. Not like Vi's razor blade. Though it was short, Vi's blade was sharp, thick, made of powerful steel, and, according to Mandraken, have an extremely smooth shave. Vulpes' trademark fish spear was hanging from his back, looking ominous, and ready to kill any poor mushroom that stood in its owner's way. Dreidel carried a small club. Vader bitterly envied the club. It looked infinitely more durable than his sword. After getting their spirits up, Vulpes led the way into the forest, followed by Vi and Dreidel. Vader sighed, and followed them inside.


	2. Chapter 2: The Calling

Chapter Two: The Calling

The Mushroom Forest was immense, far larger than what it looked like on the outside. They walked for a while, a few hours maybe? They'd all told their parents previously told their parents that they'd be at Amherst, hanging out with their friends. Amherst was always busy during Fridays, with youths bustling, hanging out by Shank's ship, _RMS Victoria. _The ship was the only gateway between Victoria Island and Maple Island. And as such, it was both a symbol of hope and terror for many youths of the Maple Island. The ship was captained by Shanks, a high-spirited man who ferried passengers every Friday. Many youths longed to be off to Victoria Island to become Guardians, but the price for voyage was extremely high, at nearly 500 mesos. And as high-spirited and friendly Shanks was, he was never in the mood to give away free trips. Another catch was that once one left Maple Island, you could never come back. Ever. This was a rule strictly enforced by the Guardian Order. Maple Island was designed to be a sanctuary for anybody wishing to go there. Completely free of real danger, friendly to retired Guardians. If people were allowed to go back and forth, the chances of monsters and Dark Followers finding their way there became higher.

Going to Victoria Island had always been a dream of Vi's. It was a nightmare for Vader, because Vi swore that when she went to Victoria Island, she would drag him with her. Vader had no need to go to such a complex place, when he was not ready.

"But I can do it dad! I'm powerful enough to become a Guardian!" Vi would scream.

"You don't understand Vi. Potato harvest is soon. We need you and Vader around to help us gather the fruits," said Mandraken.

"But-. MOM! Help me out here. You know I'm strong enough!"

"I'm not sure if I do Vi," replied Coffee, Mandraken's wife, as she brought another bowl of beef stew for anybody interested.

"I am to strong enough! I've fought Vulpes and Dreidel before, and I beat them both! And they're both older than me!" said Violet.

"Listen to me Vi. You don't know what it's like. You think it's all just a joke don't you?" said Mandraken, angrily.

"Oh Drake, not this talk again-"

"No Coffee! I need her to listen to this! This is important."

Violet groaned.

"Being a Guardian isn't all about killing snails and playing games. It's a nightmare, more terrible than you could ever imagine. There are evil people in the world. It's too hard to explain, you're still too young. But I just don't want to have to see my children thrust into such an unforgiving world. I left the Guardian Order with a good reason, and it isn't just because of my age either."

Mandraken sighed, and took a sip of his stew. Vader offered him some more potatoes, but he refused.

"Ever since the Second War, things haven't been the same. Ever since the Kingpin, things haven't been the same," said Mandraken.

After about a solid hour and a half of walking through the Mushroom Forest, the gang decided to take a rest and have a lunch break.

"And don't stab my lunch this time Vulpes, I am warning you," said Vader.

Vader brought some leftover stew, leavened bread, and a bottle of water for the trip. Dreidel's lunch was much more filling. Her mother, being a cook, ensured that her kids never starved. She brought some Perion style steak with cilantro and orange juice. Vulpes packed some spaghetti and spring roll. Even his own sister, Violet, had more than just beef stew and bread. Vader looked at his pitiful lunch and ate, not feeling better than he did before.

"What you got there, meow?" asked Munchkinz, who had slinked over to Vader.

"Get away from me, you stupid cat," said Vader.

"Give me your food meow, or I'll throw you off a fucking cliff meow."

"Leave me alone!"  
Munchkinz attacked without warning, and furiously. He clawed Vader across the face. Vader collapsed and started screaming in pain. When he was done, he looked at what used to be his lunch. The bread was gone, and the Munchy took what was left of the stew, and in its place was a hefty helping of cat manure.

"MUNCHKINZ GET BACK HERE! NOW!"

Vader ran at Munchkinz, who began running away. He leaped over a small stream, with grace, and ran towards the forest. Enraged, Vader attempted to hop across the stream, but fell in, getting wet in the process.

"Son of a KSer!" cursed Vader.

Munchkinz was much, much quicker than Vader had ever been, but he left a rather showy trail of cat laughter and paw prints, which made him easy to track. After about five minutes of running, the laughter stopped, and so did the rustling sound made by Munchy running. The paw prints fade away, and as Vader slowly realized, so did the sunlight around him. A few seconds after all this happened, Munchy's rustling was replaced by about five other rustling presences, all around Vader. By now, a couple things began to dawn on Vader. First, he had ran very deep into the forest, very, very deep. The outskirts of the forest had creatures limited largely to Orange Mushrooms, but the deeper areas had other creatures. Creatures that he didn't know about. Dark animals, the kind of things that the Guardian Order was formed to fight. Second, he had effectively separated himself from his friends, completely. Not only did he separate himself from his friends, he had also separated himself from sunlight, because he was surrounded in all sides by an eerie shade of darkness. The kind of cloudy, depressing darkness that often precedes an icy cold rainstorm. Third, the fact that Munchkinz had disappeared, and the fact that there was slow rustling noises all over him indicated that he was probably surrounded by monsters. Fourth, it had started to rain.

Vader breathed hard, with his small sword in tow. The ice cool rain hit him hard, making it difficult for him to determine whether he was sweating, or merely being pelted with droplets of water. Before he even had the time to think anything through, a shadow jumped out from nowhere and leaped on him.

Vader screamed, and performed a quick slash at the shadow that had attacked him. His sword was covered with what appeared to be green, transparent slime, and he was knocked backwards, and hurled into a tree. He fell on the ground, and a shivering darkness surrounded him. By now, not only was it raining hard, daylight had completely ended. Night encompassed the forest.

"That's impossible," Vader thought, "It was day only a few seconds ago."

Suddenly, Vader was violently whacked across the face while he groped for his sword. He was flung like a ragdoll in the air, and then headbutted by a second shadow. He was launched into a tree once more, but this time, he recovered faster, and performed a quick anti-fall move taught to him by Mandraken. On his feet, he finally saw his two attackers clearly for the first time.

What he saw terrified him. He was being stared at by a pair of giant, green lizards. And he called them lizards only for a lack of better term. In reality, they weren't lizards. They more resembled snakes, and even that was a far stretch. They looked like nothing he'd ever seen before. Their skins were green, and covered with tiny postules that, much to Vader's disgust, appeared to be breathing, and secreting out sticky, coating fluids. They had a long, swiping tail, which is no doubt what they used to whack Vader so strongly. The tail was attached to a large, grotesque head. Although he called it head, a giant eye socket may have been a better description. A large, bloodshot reptilian eye was in the middle, staring down at Vader. Just below this piercing eye was a mouth, full of fangs, surrounded by black, misshapen gums coated with what appeared to be black tar. Both of them were drooling, as if in anticipation of a delicious meal. And Vader was determined to not be this meal.

Screaming like a madman, Vader ran to his right, but was quickly blocked by one of the lizards. He noticed that this one sported a large gash in the small space between his eye and mouth, and was bleeding profusely. The blood was no blood like he'd ever seen. It was green, transparent, stick, and apparently acidic, because the ground below the lizard was slow melting from it. He remembered it was the stuff that coated his sword shortly after he'd slashed. Vader reacted quickly, and ran to his left, but the thing used its tail on him. Grabbing him by his neck, it pinned him to the ground, and snarled in its face in fury. Its breath smelled like the stench of Violet's piss poor cooking, but that wasn't the bad part. The bad part was the thing's sticky blood dripping down all over his chest. Vader felt a sharp, stinging, burning sensation all over him. The pain was excruciating. He couldn't even scream because of it. The only thing he could feel, other than his pain, was the smell of his burning flesh forcing its way up his nose. The beast snarled once more, and everything went black.

When Vader woke up, the forest was still raining, and he was splashed in the face with even more torrent of cold water. He sputtered, and woke up waving his arm everywhere. Then, as if his body had remembered the acid burn, he began to scream in agony.

"You're alive!"

Vader took a break from screaming only to see a small, brown cat standing next to him. It was Munchkinz, grinning gleefully.

"Where am I? WHERE AM I?" screamed Vader.

"Relax, meow. I saved your life. One second later and your noob ass would have been Curse Eye food, meow." Replied Munchy.

"Wha-What?"

"Curse Eyes. Those things that attacked you are called Curse Eyes. They're extremely dangerous monsters, only truly experienced Guardians can kill them, meow."

"Then what in the name of the GM Gods are they doing here?"

"I have no idea, meow. I was attacked too, meow, but I owned them easy. I think I have a vague idea on what's going on though."

Vader started getting up, but Munchy leapt up and kicked him in the face, forcing him back down.

"Relax, meow. You need rest. I just gave you some Antidote made from a few Kandor leaves I found lying around, meow. You need to lie down and wait for it to work, or the Curse Eye venom will end your sad little nooblet life, meow."

Insulted, but scared, Vader lied back down. The wind started getting harsher, and the night got darker. Vader noted the moon was full, which was odd, because they were in the middle of the month, but the cold rain wiped the thought from his mind.

"You see this? The rainstorm, the untimely full moon, weird monsters appearing…. It's the Calling meow."

"The what?"

"The Calling. It's a spell used by Dark Followers, meow. It's very dark magic, very dangerous. We're in grave danger, meow. We need to find the others and get ouf of here unless you want to get killed by the Dark Followers, meow."

Vader's stomach churned, badly. Dark Followers? Here? It was impossible.

"Dark Followers? Here?" he asked.

"I don't know how it happened meow, but here, eat this."

Munchy pulled out a red bottle, seemingly from nowhere, and rolled it over to Vader. Vader reached at it weakly, and Munchy pulled the bottle cork off. Vader put the bottle to his mouth, and began drinking the red substance inside. It tasted like salty water, but Vader felt himself being energized. As if somebody was breathing life back into his tired, battered body. He began sweating, and his insides grew hot. By the time he finished the drink, he felt about ready to take on Jr. Balrog.

"Feeling better, meow?"

"Yeah, let's go."

He picked himself up with ease, and Munchy began to hop away.

"Follow me, meow! Keep up!"

Vader hobbled after Munchkinz, trying to keep up to the best of his ability. A few Orange Mushrooms were found in their path, but Munchy was able to mostly kick them out of their way. Munchy was stronger than he'd ever seen before. A single kick from him was able to punch a hole through most Shrooms. After much running, they heard a long, girlish scream.

"Dreidel!" Munchy and Vader said in unison. They turned to where the scream was coming from and ran. Within a few seconds, they found Vi, Dreidel, and Vulpes.

All three of them were in terrible condition. Vi's razor laid on the ground, with its blade apparently melted off. Vulpes's spear had snapped in half, leaving him with a mildly sharp, wooden stump. Vi was bleeding from the arm, badly, and Vulpes was limping, but Dreidel was in the worst condition. Her lip had blown up for some reason, making her look like a fish, and her eyes were splattered with sickly green liquid Vader recognized as Curse Eye blood. And indeed, they were surrounded by Curse Eyes. Not only Curse Eyes, but other creatures he'd never seen before. There were tiny, green mushrooms, which looked a bit like Orange Shrooms, except slightly shorter, and skinnier. These green mushrooms had the eyes and mouths of an Orange Shroom, but they also had tiny arms protruding from their sides. Their caps were also much wider. Amidst this combination of Curse Eyes and green mushrooms were tiny little snakes. The snakes were very small, no longer than a pencil, but they moved extremely quickly. This made the gang of monsters surrounding the trio appear as if it was a large monster, constantly shuffling.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, Munchy screamed, loudly. The scream turned the attention of the monsters to the small, brown cat. Munchy jumped high into the air, still screaming. The monsters began to howl in pain, and started attacking Munchy. The Curse Eyes started spitting large bulbs of acid at Munchy, and the green mushrooms did the same. The snakes were apparently unable to attack something in midair, and instead started jumping at Vi, Dre, and Vulpes.

"VIIIIIIIIIII!" screamed Vader. In desperation, he jumped into the trio. He didn't notice that Munchkinz had dodged the poisonous onslaught of the Curse Eyes and green mushrooms. Munchy landed next to Vader, Vi, Dre, and Vulpes, still screaming. The scream swayed all the snakes off, and in the same second, Munchy pulled out four items out of nowhere, like he did with the red water from earlier.

"TAKE THEM! NOW!"

The four didn't need any more encouragement. Even Dre, who was blinded, leapt for the items thrown for them by Munchkinz. Vader picked up one of the items from the ground, without thinking. It was a small axe, with double blades. It was small, but still large enough that it wasn't a hatchet or a hand axe. Vulpes had grabbed what appeared to be a small fruit knife. Vi grabbed a tiny, hard wooden wand, that looked almost like a toy. Dre had a small, brown glove, but apparently had no idea what to do with it. For that matter, neither did Vader. It just looked like a shitty brown glove to him.

"Dre, put on the glove! Everybody, follow me, run as fast as possible, AND WHACK ANYTHING THAT MOVES!" said Munchy, extremely fast. So fast, it sounded like one word. The speed was necessary, because by now, the green mushrooms had turned their attention to the four wannabe Guardians and the brown cat. There was acid everywhere, and they scrambled to get out of the sticky situation. Munchy ran, and moved so fast, he appeared as a blur, almost. A couple of Orange Mushrooms came at his way, but at this point, Vader was so worn out and fucked up, these shrooms didn't even seem like a challenge. He simply whacked them out of the way with his axe. The green acid was a bigger challenge. Many of them swiped Vader on the arm, causing him burns. But the Curse Eyes didn't catch up to him, and just for that, he was grateful.

After much running, a small, red bottle came at his way, presumably, from Munchy. This one was somewhat different from the last one. This one wasn't a bottle, more of a vial. And the red liquid was less watery, and had a bit more syrupy consistency. He hid behind a tree, popped the cap open, and swallowed it whole. He did this so quickly, he even forgot how it tasted, then began running again. Only now, he ran so fast, everything around him appeared as a blur. He had no idea what the red stuff did to him to make him so fast, but all he knew was that now, he had no trouble dodging orange mushrooms or the green acid. The effects of the potion wore off, and he started becoming tired again. And in front of him was a large, steep cliff. Vader turned around. It was all over, it seemed. Curse Eyes and Green Mushrooms had surrounded him, in spades. There had to be at least five dozen of each, all sides, except Vader's back, which was barred by the cliff. He could hear fighting noises above the cliff, and explosions, but it didn't sound like anybody would come to his rescue. The Curse Eyes snarled, drooling and licking their lips. Vader raised his axe. If these animals were going to kill him, then he wouldn't go down as an easy lunch.

"Good bye cruel world," Vader thought to himself.

Suddenly, loud, almost ghostly, whizzing noises slashed past Vader. Vader dropped his axe, covered his head, and screamed, convinced that he was done for. The whizzing noise didn't stop, and he heard animal screaming noises all around him, along with sounds of flesh splattering, and things running away. After what seemed like an eternity, Vader opened his eyes, and an army of tiny, small metal knives stared back at him. These knives were implanted all over the place, and many of them took pieces of Curse Eyes and Mushrooms with them it seemed. Some of them even killed snakes. Vader looked up for the source of the knives, hanging from a rock.

"VADER! You noob!" said Dreidel.

Vader had never been so glad to see Dre. She was apparently still blinded, because her eyes were still deformed, and her lips were still blown. On her right hand was the shitty brown glove that Munchy had thrown her. In the glove was a small knife.

"Dre! I knew you'd come to save my ass, you little you! What's with the knives?'

"What, these? They're called Steelies. Anyway…."

Dre drew her hand back and started whipping it, extremely fast. So fast in fact, you couldn't see her arm as anything but a blur. Knives began to impale themselves inside the rocks, making almost a stairway, or a rock climbing grip. This line of Steelies carried up all the way to the top of the cliff.

"Here! Use these to climb up to the top!" yelled Dre.

"OK!" said Vader.

Vader dropped his axe and quickly grabbed the steely path and started climbing. He was always afraid of heights, and was not the super fast climber Dre and Vi had always been, but he was agreeable. After a while of struggle, he made it to the top.

A scene of destruction faced him. A large group of dead, wounded, or otherwise incapacitated villagers, screaming children, and Guardians covered the fields. Houses were burning, stores were burning, there were monsters everywhere. The only thing standing he could see were Vi, Mai, Dre, Munchy, and Vulpes.

"GUYS!" yelled Vader.

"VADER! YOU NOOB! WE THOUGHT WE LOST YOU!"

Vi yelped in glee and leapt on Vader, nudging him. Vulpes tackled them both, screaming in happiness.

"Get up, the three of you. We have work to do."

Vader looked up at the speaker. It was Mai, the town warrior. She looked rather disgusted at the immaturity of the three wannabe Guardian Beginners.

"Sorry Ma'm!" said Vulpes, standing upright like a soldier.

"HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"

A bone chilling, skin crawling laughter rang out through the town, and everyone turned to the man behind the laughter. In a bolt of sickening, green flash, a man in white cloak had appeared before them.

"HAHAHA! I see our little Beginners aren't dead yet!" said the man in white.  
"Johnny20! You have the nerves to breathe the same air as I do, Dark Follower!" said Mai. The last two words caused Vader to flinch a bit. So it was true. All this destruction, all this bloodshed…. Was the work of a Dark Follower.

"Ah, Mai. I knew you'd get in my way."

"I've beaten you before. I can beat you again," said Mai.

"Oh yes, you have. But last time we fought, I was but a noobling. Now, I am a Pro, and a true master of the Dark Way."

As if to demonstrate his claim, the white cloak man quickly raised his hand, before anybody could react, and launched a bolt of fiery red beam from his wand. Mai jumped back, and blocked the bolt with her sword. An extreme heat filled the air, and Vader felt his breath being kicked out of his lungs from the sheer energy of the bolt.

"Run! This enemy is beyond any of you! Munchy, take them away!" said Mai. After saying this quickly, Mai charged furiously at the mysterious white cloaked man. Munchy nodded, grimly.

"Vi, help me take these noobs away from here, meow!"

"YEAH" said Vi. They prepared to run, but before they did, Vader faintly heard a low growl in the background. Almost like a battle cry, or the cry of a monster. And this cry made him very, very uneasy, for it sounded a bit like….

"Muuuuuuuushmoooooooom…. Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuushmoooooooooooooom…."


	3. Chapter 3: Trial by Mushmom

Chapter Three: Trial by Mushmom

"Did you guys hear that?" asked Vader to his friends.

"Yeah, it sounded like a Mushmom," said Vi.

Vader looked around, while running as fast as he could. He saw that Dre had been tied to Munchy, most likely to make up for her blindness.

"It most likely was, meow," said Munchy.

"But, if it was, aren't we fucked?" asked Vulpes.

"If Mushmom is free, and we meet her, then yes, we're dead noobs meow. So let's pray to the GM Gods that we don't bump into her, meow."

Munchy's almost brutal honesty made Vader rather uneasy. This was too unreal for him to take. He could not believe how fast everything was happening. Just that morning, he was thinking about that new potato recipe he read about over the Internet he was going to try out. Cooking was his one happiness, and he enjoyed nothing more than potato meals. Now, there was a Dark Follower on the island, and an army of dangerous, foreign monsters were after them. Mushmom was on the loose, Vi was running for her life, Dre was a blind knife throwing woman…. What was a Dark Follower anyway? He didn't know. Now that he thought about it, his ignorance to anything outside Maple Island almost embarrassed him. He didn't know what a Curse Eye was, even though one nearly ate him, he didn't know what a Dark Follower was…. When he was little, dad would tell him scary Dark Follower stories. He'd tell me that a Dark Follower would come and eat me if I was a bad boy. Later, he grew up and found out that they were evil people who did evil things, but that was about it. He started wishing he read more books and paid more attention in school, instead of day dreaming all the time.

"Muuuuuuuuushmooooooooom. MUUUUUUUUUUUUUSHMOOOOOOOOOOOM."

The growl of the Mushmom grew louder, and Vader could hear loud thumping noises, explosions, and screams in the distance. He tried to ignore it to the best of his abilities, until suddenly, out of the blue, the party was attacked by a trio of Curse Eyes. Vader suddenly felt weak, as he remembered that he was weaponless. Dre attacked them with her knives, but most of them missed, and the ones that hit only made scratches. Vi was screaming incoherently into the air, while waving her wooden wand. The wand shot out bright blue bolts of what appeared to be electricity, or pure energy. Although they were brilliant, and certainly impressive to look at, they too, did very little to hurt the Curse Eyes, who mostly dodged them with snakelike agility. One of the Curse Eyes jumped at Vader, but before anything happened, Vulpes got between them, and tackled the lizard on the ground. Suddenly, the lizard ate Vulpes' arm, in a single slurp. Vader yelped, but there was no scream from Vulpes. No blood either. Nothing to indicate that the lizard had indeed, bitten off his right arm. Vader looked closer. No, the lizard didn't eat up his arm. Rather, Vulpes stuck his arm into its mouth, on purpose, stabbing it through the throat with his fruit knife. He pulled his arm out, and the Curse Eye lay at his feet, dead.

"It's a trick I learned from Munchy. If you stab it through the throat, the acid blood can't hurt you," Vulpes said, smiling, "You alright there Vader?"

"I'm fine," said Vader. As he said this, he noticed that the other two Curse Eyes also died, thanks to the combined efforts of Munchkinz and the two girls.

"Hurry! We have no time meow!"

They started running away again. They ran into the fields, which were normally inhabited with snails and Spores, were now empty. The weaker monsters had been scared away by the stronger, new monsters. Now, instead of snails, the fields were full of giant, green blobs. The green blobs were about the size of Orange Shrooms, and about as bouncy as one too. It seemed liquid, but somehow stayed together and didn't spill everywhere, like one would expect. It was like a clear water balloon full of green water. On its head was a large, stringy substance, at the end of which was a miniature green blob. It had tiny eyes, black dots that shined like gold, and a mouth.

"Slimes," said Vi, "I read about them a long ago."

"Good girl, meow. They're not too strong. Kill these mothers, meow."

The Four Beginners screamed as they charged into the field full of Slimes. Vader had no weapon, but almost having sensed this, Munchy circled him, protecting him from the creatures. Vi was almost like a swan in her grace. He'd never seen her move like that before. It was almost as if the wand pulled something from her that was never there before. Moving rapidly and smoothly, she blasted blue energy everywhere, rapidly destroying Slimes in her way. When hit with one of her bolts, the slimes exploded into a burst of messy green water that got everywhere. Vulpes was also fearless. It seemed that nothing in his path lasted more than half a second under his extremely vicious, fast stabs that made his aLS and legs a blur. And of course, Dre, despite being invisible, used her knives to make a tornado of steel that sliced and diced Slimes to bits. Watching this, Vader felt extremely weak. He was utterly weaponless in the entire ordeal.

As the gang ran, Vader passed a sign. The sign was badly burned at the top, and was beaten up, but he recognized it. It read "Amherst", and has a large arrow below it.

"Amherst? We're going to Amherst?" asked Vader.

"Yes, meow. It's the only safe place to be, meow."

Not quite comfortable with the idea of going to Amherst, Vader shook his head in protest.

"But, what if Mushmom is there?"

"Oh, shut up you noob. Mushmom could be anywhere!" said Violet.

Munchkinz nodded in agreement, and Vader grudgingly admitted defeat. Amherst had always represented everything for him. Amherst was his main hangout, where he had friends. Where he could have fun. Going there in a time like this left a bad taste in his mouth.

The screaming, explosion noises, and Mushmom's menacing growl grew louder and louder as they drew closer to Amherst. Vader was unnerved.

"Guys, I really, really think Mushmom is here," he said.

Much to his surprised, Munchkinz nodded in agreement.

"Yes meow. I can smell Mushmom's presence from a mile away, meow. A clever tactic, using it to bar the last safe place."

Munchkinz turned right around and started running back, the other way, where they came from, back to the Slime infested fields, and everybody did the same. Back in the fields, the Slimes apparently all regenerated by this time. This time however, the group avoided a head-on clash with the Slimes, because the path they were taking led them up the hills, up to Southperry.

Southperry was the harbor port town of Maple Island. It wasn't incredibly large, but it certainly wasn't small either. It directly bordered Amherst. Southperry was where Shanks' ship, LS Victoria, docked after every voyage from Victoria, ferrying goods and passengers for the colony. As such, it was constantly bustling with activity and sailors. After climbing up the hills, and running some more, the gang smelled a familiar scent of fresh salt water, and they knew Southperry was near. The deep blue sea was in sight, and soon enough, they were in town. Southperry was entirely constructed from white limestone, which gave the town an immaculate, pure appearance. Unlike their village, and presumably, Amherst, the town was not filled with dead bodies, monster corpses, and injured people. On the whole contrary, there wasn't a sign of a single person in the town. Everything was destroyed. The houses were wrecked, what used to be Shanks' toll booth was now completely battered, and plumbing was poking out all over the place, leaking out water. Small fires had caught on everywhere. Southperry was a wreck of a sight to behold.

"Think Mushmom was here?" asked Vader.

"Not sure, meow. Maybe. Let's spread out and look for someone, meow. This town looks deserted."

Following Munchkinz's instruction, the gang spread out and looked for people. It didn't take Vader more than 30 minutes before he came to the inevitable conclusion: The town was deserted. There was no one here, as if somebody evacuated the place entirely. There were some blood on the ground, and on the walls, but otherwise, there was nothing to be found. Not a single corpse in sight.

"Help… Help me…."

Vader leaped in shock when he heard a tiny voice behind him, and jumped again when he turned around and saw the speaker. It was a small man, no taller than he was. His hair was a dirty shade of blonde, and judging from his outfit, he was one of Shanks' sailors. His face was cut up, and he was bleeding badly all over the place. And his left leg was missing.

"Bi-Bicks?" said Vader.

"Yeah, it's me…. Orange Shrooms…. Took everyone away…."

"What?"

"An army of Shrooms…. Came out of nowhere…. Made everyone run…."

Vader struggled to understand the injured sailor, but he passed out. Suddenly, a terrifying realization came to him. Mushmom was more than just a giant mushroom. Mushmom was the leader of every single Spores and Orange Shrooms on Maple Island. It was the Queen of Shrooms, and no Mushroom could resist its order. An army of Orange Shrooms made everybody flee the sight?

"IT'S A TRAP!"

Suddenly, a deafening explosion filled the air, accompanied by an all too familiar beastly growl, and everything went brown. In a millisecond, Vader was swept off his feet and launched into the air by a massive dust tornado. Or perhaps a dust hurricane. The dirt was steaming hot, and burned every pore of his skin. The hurricane was also filled with rocks. Sharp rocks, small rocks, smooth rocks, blunt rocks…. And they all battered him. There was not a single area on his body that wasn't completely blasted and bashed with stones. After what seemed like ten years of being blasted with the meanest grains of the Earth, the tornado ended and Vader was dropped on the ground, violently.

Basically, the gang gets to Southperry and fights Mushmom. Mushmom knocks Vi, Munchy, Vulpes, and Dre out and Vader accidentally kills Mushmom, because Mushmom falls into the sea. I'm sorry, I actually wrote this battle scene out, but my computer froze and ate the file up, and I don't want to re-write it. So, with much apologies, this is what you'll have to settle for. Sorry:(


	4. Chapter 4: LS Victoria

Chapter Four: LS Victoria

"He's alive!"

White light flooded every corner of Vader's head, causing an almost numbing, powerful sensation just behind his eyeballs. He felt like he was in the Weapons Room from the Matrix.

"You alright son? You busted yourself up pretty badly?"

Vader brought himself up, and the light cleared from his eyes. He looked around, and for a second, he thought he really was in the Matrix Weapons Room. Everything was completely blank, white. The only color was provided by a dark skinned man, who's face was hovering just before him.

"Where am I?" said Vader, lazily.

"This? This is the Healing Chamber. Here, let's go back," said the man.

With that, he snapped his fingers and they were instantly teleported into the fields of Maple Island. The sun shone warm on them, and the wind blew light, low, fuzzy spring wind. Vader felt good. This was his home, and he thought he'd never see it again. Vader got up, on his feet. He looked at his hands. There was nothing. No cuts, no bruises. He felt his face. His nose was fixed, and he could see through his left eye again.

"I feel fine. What did you do to me?" he asked.

"I'm a Cleric. I healed you. It took some time, but we managed to fix you up pretty good. Unfortunately, I don't think that scar on your chest is going away any time soon. Sorry."

Vader felt a little sick, knowing that the acid burn scar from his encounter with Curse Eyes would remain permanent, serving as an unfriendly reminder of everything that happened.

"You're a very lucky man my friend. Very few Beginners have encountered a grown, full-size Mushmom and lived to tell the tale. Even fewer have actually killed the Mushmom! They'll be speaking your name for years on this island, they will."

"Look, about the Mushmom…."

Vader sighed a deep sigh, and closed his eyes, before finally whispering.

"It was an accident. Mushmom killed itself by accident. It fell into the water on its own, I had nothing to do with-"

The Cleric looked confused. Suddenly, all his memories came back, and Vader opened his eye and jumped hysterically.

"VI! MUNCHY! VULPES! Are they ALIVE? What about DRE? Where are they?"

"Relax son. They're all alive and fine. We even managed to fix that Dreidel girl's eyes. She can see again. Unfortunately, her lips were caused by an allergic reaction to Jr. Neckie skin oil. I think she'll most likely look like that for the rest of her life."

Vader felt an immense weight being lifted from his shoulders.

"Where are the others? Everyone else, I mean."

"Cleaning up the mess. There was only one Dark Follower at work, but he did some serious damage. Not just this town either, all over the island. Not in a million years did we expect something like this to happen. The Guardian Order dispatched a legion of Wizards, Clerics, and Fighters all around this island about an hour after you defeated that Mushmom. We cleaned up all the summoned monsters, but the Dark Follower behind this invasion fled when we arrived. Not before causing some serious life casualty though."

The Cleric sighed. Vader's stomach churned once again when he mentioned life casualties. He recalled Mai, Maple Island's protector, who was the last person to fight the invader.

"Life casualties?" said Vader.

"Oh yes, life casualties. Here, drink some of this stuff."

The Cleric pulled out a small bottle full of sickly yellow liquid. Vader popped open the cork stopper and drank it all down. It had no taste, at all.

"What is it?" asked Vader.

"It's a potion I brewed myself. It's an extremely powerful anesthetic. It knocks you out cold for years unless I put some counter-potion in you."

"Why did you give it to me?"

"Because, I'm about to tell you something you might not like to hear, and I thought going to sleep for a few days might help you deal with it. Your parents are dead. The Dark Follower killed them, and half the island's population, before he fled."

Vader felt about ready to vomit. Suddenly, his body went completely numb, as if every nerve in his body suddenly died, and everything went blurry, as if somebody took the cleanest plate of mirror they could find, and splashed paint all over it. His hearing died, and he collapsed on the ground. Vader didn't feel the fall, and everything went black.

For the next few days, life was a living hell for LordVader92.

He woke up three days after being sedated with the Cleric's special, unique brew of knock out stuff. He felt utterly numb, both physically and mentally, for weeks after, something he utterly hated. He could hardly feel anything with his touch, his tastebuds were dead to the point everything that went into his mouth tasted like dry cardboard, his eyes went blind every once a few hours, and overall he just felt dead. Even emotion was dead to him. Most likely, he deduced, the Cleric gave him such a powerfully numbing spell to help him get over the extreme grief of his parents' death. In a way, he was grateful. If he wasn't so numbed out, the raw pain would have torn him apart, inside out. Violet spent half her time crying, and the other half in silent contemplation. She locked herself in her room and refused to see anybody, or even eat much. Their house was spared destruction. Sort of. Mandraken made his final stand against the Dark Follower outside the house. Their garden was destroyed beyond reason, and their small potato farm was wrecked, but the house itself was untouched. Coffeeduck managed to briefly fight him and make him flee, but she too, was eventually ambushed and killed, far from the house. Vulpes and Dreidel were both considerably luckier. Vulpes' father suffered a loss of his left hand while attempting to control Mushmom's rampage in Amherst, and Dreidel's parents both broke their legs, neither of their parents' actually died. When the potion finally wore off, Vader wept uncontrollably before his own breakfast. He wept for the rest of the day.

After about a month, Vader was released from the small mobile hospital set up by the Cleric Squad to help the injured, and was allowed back home. Normally, his life would have been heavenly at this point. Other kids would have been jumping at him, asking him to tell about his encounter with Mushmom. He would have been given nicknames like "The Mushmom Slayer" or "Super Beginner". But normalcy was something that died out a long time ago. Most other kids were either dead, heavily injured, or in hiding, still believing the Dark Followers was on the island. Everything was in absolute confusion. Vader heard from one of the Clerics at the hospital that the whole invasion would be kept under absolute secrecy, and that no one would be allowed to speak of it under the punishment of going to the Deep. Vader didn't know what a Deep was, but the Cleric looked terrified while saying it, so he guessed it was someplace you didn't want to go.

When Vader came home, Violet answered the door. The house was shockingly neat, and Violet was unexpectedly composed.

"You look better than when I last saw you," said Vader.

"Thanks. You hungry? I have some breakfast tacos cooking," said Violet.

"Breakfast tacos? You cook now?"

"Munchy taught me."

Then, as if recognizing a cue, Munchy popped out of nowhere and kicked Vader in the face, knocking him backwards.

"VADER! I've missed your noobling face, meow!"

"Hey, easy! EASY!"

Munchy licked Vader's face. Thank god his mouth was only cotton, and produced no saliva.

After this, Vader was treated to a delicious meal of breakfast tacos, with fried potatoes and a mix of egg, amigas, jalapeno, and onions. Munchy also ate with them, below the table. He fed on an exceptional dish of Pet Food they had lying around the house. They ate mostly silently. Vader was distracted by how amazing the food was. His taste buds had returned to him just a few hours ago, and his was the first delicious, warm meal he'd had in a long while. After a long, silent dinner, Munchkinz finally broke the silence.

"We're going to Victoria Island to become Guardians, meow."

Vader nearly choked on his taco.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"Tomorrow, we are leaving for Victoria Island to become full-fledged Guardians, meow. Your peaceful days as Beginners are over, meow."

"But, but why? Violet, did you know about this?" said Vader.

Violet nodded, slowly.

"Don't you get it you fool? The world's a different place now. Maple Island isn't safe anymore. There's no point lying around, moping about your parents when there are Dark Followers out there, meow. I always thought your parents would be around forever. I was wrong, meow. You don't have a job, and neither does Vi, meow. Becoming Guardians may be our only option."

"But, why! I could get a job! Madam Lucy always said she needed somebody around to help her care for the store! And if she says no, I'll ask Yuna for a job at her bar! I can be a bar tender or something!"  
"Madam Lucy is dead, meow. And Yuna is still missing."

Vader was absolutely speechless.

"If you don't want to come with us meow, we'll just have to bash something over your noob ass and drag you with us. Mai is dead, meow, and so are half of the island's population. We couldn't handle one Dark Follower with all that manpower, if we take another invasion, we won't survive, meow. The Guardian Order wants to keep things hush-hush, but that won't change the fact Maple Island isn't safe anymore. I know you're afraid to leave your home forever, meow, but leaving is safer now."

Vader couldn't argue any longer. He knew Munchkinz was right. Maple Island had become the most dangerous place a Beginner could be in, overnight.

"How will we get off? I heard they barred Shanks' ship, the Victoria, from docking at Southperry. Not that he could even if he was allowed anyway. Mushmom destroyed all the docking gear when she destroyed everything and fell in the water."

"Not anymore. They fixed most of the equipment, and the Victoria was allowed back, to help take all the Guardians back to Victoria Island. Of course, nobody else is allowed on board, meow."

Vader knew what was coming next, and it made him sick.

"We're going to sneak aboard the ship, meow. Don't worry about your luggage, we've already packed it for you. Tomorrow morning, meow."


	5. Chapter 5: To a New World

Chapter Five: To a New World

The trio woke up early that morning. Vader was rudely awaken by Munchkinz. He didn't sleep much, maybe a couple hours or so. Something he regretted, because he'd probably need his strength for this journey. After a quick breakfast of canned tomato soup Violet had gotten from Dreidel's place, Vader decided to ask the inevitable question.

"How are we going to sneak aboard the ship? I mean, the security will be terrible," said Vader.

"Yes, meow. But I have my ways, meow. Here, follow me," said Munchy.

Vader followed Munchkinz to his father's old study, a large library full of all kinds of books. He remembered coming in this place to read random books when he was a kid. He was an avid reader. He was familiar with everything in the place, except the books in what Mandraken called the "Forbidden Area". Vader never learned what the Forbidden Area contained. He suspected it was books having to do with Guardians, Dark Followers, Monsters and whatnot. And so, he was surprised when Munchkinz started taking the two in there.

"The Forbidden Area? We can't go in there," said Vader.

"Nonsense, meow. Watch this, meow."

The Forbidden Area was far smaller than Vader expected it would be. There were only stacks of books on various desks, most of them quite dusty, which implied that they hadn't been touched in a long while. Vader picked a random one up. It was titled, "The Absolute End of Life". Just as he was about to open it, Munchkinz quickly clawed the book out of his hands.

"What'd you do that for!"

"Don't touch anything, meow! That book could be dangerous for all you know. And when we go in, do NOT touch anything, meow!"

"Go in? Go in where?"

Munchkinz answered Vader's question by placing a paw on one of the bricks that made up the narrow walls of the Forbidden Area. Suddenly, the floor started rumbling softly, and the bricks slowly disappeared, crumbling like Lego blocks, until they were all but gone. Suddenly, the Forbidden Area grew much larger, and blew Vader away.

"Welcome to the lab, meow. This is Mandraken's lab, where he conducted all his researches and kept anything he found during his Guardian days."

"But, how? How did he hide…? This place is so huge, our house is tiny!"

"Magic, meow. Coffeeduck was one of the greatest mages of her day, meow," answered Munchkinz.

Mandraken's lab was immense. It was huge, colorful, and bouncing with life. It wasn't so much a scientific lab, as it was a zoo and a museum of wonderful things he'd never seen before. There was the usual, the stereotypical boiling, multicolored chemicals that graced the place on neat little metal desks, in different sized containers. Then there was the unusual. The ceiling was unusually high, which it had to be, to accommodate the insane number of gadgets and gizmos that filled the place up. There were bookcases to the size, of different sizes. Some were huge, and reached the ceiling completely, while others contained maybe 5 books and came up to Vader's knees. There were cages full of roaring animals. Pigs, Orange Mushrooms, Green Mushrooms, he even spotted some Curse Eyes. Blue sparks flew around everywhere. But the most eye catching was a large contraption that took the center of the lab. The device was something you might find in one of Rube Goldberg's sketches. It was a gigantic behemoth, a giant that seemed to fuel itself with energy made by itself. At its core was what appeared to be a gigantic mass of balled up electricity, sealed behind a glass wall. There were various arms attached to the machine, and each arm seemed to have an entire factory behind it, full of items and monsters. Vader could vaguely make out a Red Snail behind one window. These arms were all running, producing different things. Some of them were pumping out colorful, pleasant smelling liquids, many of them were producing plates of refined ores at extremely fast rates, some were creating various weapons and items. At the top of the machine was what appeared to be a large, metal pole encased with a glass box at a glance. Upon closer look however, Vader clearly saw that it was a large sword. It was a large sword, but its size was somewhat dwarfed by the sheer massiveness of the machine below it. On the glass case the sword was incased in was a small plaque, but Vader couldn't actually make out what it read, at all.

The lab itself didn't end there. There were several doors all around the massive room, with signs above them, presumably leading into rooms relating to the topic on the said sign. However, Munchy didn't go for any of these signs. Instead he went for one of the metallic desks scattered around the place. Vader was staring intently into a glass bottle full of green liquid and what appeared to be a frog's leg, when Munchy called him up.

"FOUND IT!" said Munchy.

Vader turned around and saw that Munchkinz had a pair of rings on his back. They were gold rings, thick and heavy, both of them. There weren't any stones gracing the rings. One was smooth, and untouched. The other was more bulky and had inscriptions all around.

"What is this?" asked Vader.  
"Transformation Rings. It was one of Coffeeduck's projects. She researched very deep into finding ways to transform people completely, into monsters, other people, objects…. Her fellow Wizards weren't too enthusiastic about the whole thing, but Thieves loved the idea, since transformation could take stealth to a whole new level. Dark Lord funded the project for a while, before she went into exile here, and dropped the whole thing, meow."

Munchy threw the two rings into Vader's hands. Vader stared at them carefully.

"These rings will transform you into Mandraken and Coffeeduck completely. Of course, the effect is only physical, but the disguise will hold up, meow."

Vader took the smooth ring and put it on his right ring finger. The effect was instant. He felt himself growing in height, and his hands became larger and more haggard. He touched his face, and much to his surprise and shock, felt only a large, messy mass of bulb. His body started to distort violently, and for a few seconds, he was an inhuman, unrecognizable mess. This form didn't last long though, and soon, his body began to correct and redefine itself. He stopped growing taller, and he felt his body growing and shrinking in mass. It was an odd sensation. After a few more seconds of shaping and reshaping, the transformation was complete. He was Mandraken. His clothes were a bit small to fully accommodate his larger, more adult body, but otherwise, it was perfect. Vader picked a mirror off the table and looked at himself in the mirror, only to find his father staring back at him. Vader forced a smile on to himself, but didn't see his smile in the reflection. Only his father's wizened, caring smile that always made everything ok whenever Vader saw it. Vader put the mirror back down and took off his ring, and transformed back to his true form.

"The ship will be leaving soon, meow. Go outside and wait with Violet. I'll be with you shortly, meow," said Munchkinz.

"Why? Can't you come with me?"

"No, meow. I have something I need really fast. Something I think will help us in this journey, meow. Go out and wait, you noob."

Vader went outside with the two transformation rings, and his luggage. Violet already knew about the rings, and the whole plan. Violet put on the bulky ring, and Vader watched her transform into a carbon copy of their mother, Coffeeduck. Vader put on his ring as well. A few minutes after, Munchkinz came out with a small, red notebook in his mouth. He dropped the notebook down and started talking.

"See those two bags over there, meow? The red one has Mandraken's clothes, and the green one's Coffee's, meow. Change into your new clothes fast.."

The two grabbed their clothes and went in the house, and took turns changing in the bathroom. With the new outfits, they really were perfect copies of their parents. They walked out, and Munchy gave a smile of approval.

"Hey wait. How can we put these clothes on? There are high level Guardian clothes. We're just Beginners, these shouldn't fit on us!" said Violet.

"Normally, no. However, these aren't regular outfits. They're trick clothes, created by Mandraken, for disguise purposes. Anybody can wear them like regular outfits, meow."

Guardian clothes weren't like regular clothes normal people wore. Guardian clothes were infused with various charms and devices to help bring out its wearer's true potential and power. Anybody not deemed worthy or powerful enough to wear an outfit and embrace its power as the wearer's own would normally be rejected by the clothing. Vader fixed Mandraken's hat on himself.

"Alright, let's go!" shouted Violet. Vader smiled. She seemed most like her old self since the invasion.

"VADER! VIOLET! WAAAAAAAAAIT!"

Vader jumped up at the scream, and turned around quickly, and saw Vulpes and Dreidel running toward them.

"VI! VA- Hey! You're not Vader! OH SHIT!" said Vulpes.

"OH MY GOD! VI'S PARENTS CAME BACK AS ZOMBIES! OH NOOOOOOOOES!" screamed Dre.

"Guys! Guys! Relax, it's just us! It's me Vi, and this is Vader. We're in disguise!" said Violet.

The two started claming down for a bit, then started talking again.

"We heard you were leaving for Victoria Island," said Dreidel, with her new overblown lips.

'Where did you hear that?" asked Vader.

"We were spying outside your hou-" said Vulpes, before Dreidel started coughing violently, in a way that sounded shockingly like "Shut the fuck up".

"You're not coming with us, meow, if that's what you had in mind," snapped Munchkinz.

Silence followed.

"But, WHY?" asked Dre.

"Oh, let me guess: It's too dangerous right? If so, Mr. Noob here should be left behind. Back when we were fighting, I killed more Slimes and Curse Eyes than Vader and Dre combined! You know that!" said Vulpes.

Vader opened his mouth to point out that he was knocked out cold by Mushmom when Vader accidentally killed the mushroom giant, but Munchkinz spoke first.

"No you noobs. It's more complex than that. This is a journey that must be undertaken by Vader and Violet only, meow. You two would be distractions, at best," said Munchkinz, "Besides, Vader killed the Mushmom, meow."

Munchkinz's last comment seemed to deflate Vulpes' ego a tad. But apparently, it wasn't enough to dissuade them.

"You guys need all the help you can get. You're gonna be Guardians right? Guardian life isn't easy. Besides, I know how to cook. What would you guys eat without me?" said Dre.

Vader could tell even Munchkinz agreed with Dre on that one. Dre was an excellent cook, and for a second, he thought the cat could be persuaded if only for her cooking, but he was disproven.

"What about your parents, meow? You're just going to leave them behind, meow?" asked Munchkinz.

"About that, actually…." Vulpes said.

Dre gave a small sigh, and Vader could tell something was wrong.

"They're being relocated. To the Deep."

When Dreidel said this, Vulpes gave a small flinch before starting to cry a little. Munchkinz looked sternly grim, and soon, Dre began to cry as well. Violet comforted her.

"The Deep? What's that? Somebody back at the hospital mentioned it, but…."

"I knew something like this would happen. This is why we need to get out, meow."

"Hey, answer my question you stinking ca-"

Before Vader could finish his sentence, Munchkinz kicked him in the face, and knocked him down, and continued talking.

"The Deep is the prison complex of choice utilized by the Guardian Order. It is a terrible realm between time and space, located in the center of Ossyria, guarded by creatures so terrible, that simply being near them could kill weaker kinds. They say the Deep is feared, even by Grendel the Really Old, meow. Indeed, Grendel campaigned pretty long to have the place closed down, meow…."

Vader was confused even more.

"But why would Dre and Vulpes' parents be sent to such a terrible place? They didn't do anything wrong, did they?"

Munchkinz sighed.

"No, they didn't. They committed no crimes, but they witnessed the invasion, which could be most embarrassing if word of it was released. It compromises the System's ability to protect citizens, meow."

"Then why aren't we locked up?" asked Vader.

"You are officially registered Beginners, recognized by the Guardian order, meow. The System wouldn't dare enforce its rules on anybody commissioned by the Order. Parents on the other hand, were retired Guardians…."

Munchkinz looked deep in thought. Vader was confused, but asked no more questions. The System? Who were they? He was about to inquire further, when Munchy spoke.

"Fine, you two may come with us."

Vader, Violet, Munchy, Dre, and Vulpes waited in a long line of Guardians waiting to go back to their home, Victoria Island. Munchkinz pulled out two more Transformation Rings. Dre was turned into a pet Brown Dog for Vader, while Vulpes was turned into a pencil, and fit inside Vi's pocket. After much waiting, they got to the top, where Shanks was.

"'Ello there good Gua'dians," said Shanks, in a bizarre accent, "May I see some identification, then?"

Identification? This wasn't part of the plan.

"We were never asked for identification before!' said Vader.

"Yea', and I do apolo'gize for this inconven'ience, but unfo'tunately, the System's got me ankles. Think a few cheena's gonna rattle right the good off and make ri'ght nazz out of them, they'll. Your Mark of Guardianship'll do, sir."

Before Vader had the chance to react in anyway, Shanks suddenly started spasming, oddly, before settling down.

"Nev'mind sir. Walk right in, you go," he said.

Confused, but somehow happy, Vader, Violet, and Munchkinz walked onboard the Victoria. The Victoria was a very large ship. Even with all these bustling Guardians aboard, it seemed quite spacious.

"What did you do?" whispered Violet to Munchy, "I thought we were goners for a second there Munchy!"

"A cat always has a trick up his sleeve," said Munchy, grinning, "I knew something like this would happen, and prepared accordingly, meow."

"When do I get out of here? Being a pencil sucks!" said Vulpes, but was mostly ignored.

Vader didn't ask any more questions on how Munchkinz mind controlled their way in. A few minutes after walking in, The ship closed down, and Shanks announced that the ship had filled with passengers, and would come back to get the rest of them after ferrying this batch back to Victoria Island. The actual voyage however, didn't begin until a good thirty minutes after this announcement.

It was an exhilarating feeling. The ship started rocking in the water for a bit, and then started moving very slowly. Less than five minutes after moving, it started catching speed more and more, before finally, it took off of water and began ascending into the air. The sound of the pair of jet propellers attached to the ship and the air gushing all over the place from the sheer speed of the vessel, made communication impossible. At this point, most of the Guardians began retreating inside the ship. Vader had never felt more alive. Munchkinz made a gesture for them to get inside as well. Vader nodded, and they went in.

The Victoria wasn't exactly a luxury cruise. However, it did extremely well what it was meant to do, and that was to get between Maple Island and Victoria Island as quickly as possible. The inside of the ship was effectively a small bar, with beds to sleep in under the bar itself. There was a bar tender, serving up drinks, and food, and a TV, but that was about it. Vader was shocked to see that the small place still fit in all the Guardians on board. Munchkinz said it was probably because most of them went to sleep in the bunkers, and told them to get a bunker ready if they wanted to sleep in bed. Following this advice, they went inside, and found that most of the bunkers were indeed, taken. However, after rummaging through much people, they did manage to find a pair of beds that were not taken, miraculously, and loaded their luggages there. Suddenly, something occurred to Vader.

"Hey Munchy. How will we carry all this stuff around Victoria? Can't be Guardians if we have to carry luggage with us everywhere," said Vader.

Munchy whacked him in the head.

"Don't talk so loud, meow! If we get caught with you asking such noob questions, they'll find us out and we'll be thrown overboard, meow! To answer your question, we'll find our ways, meow!"

Having gotten themselves a bed, Vader went out to the bar for a eat and a drink, while Violet and the rest stayed with their luggage and beds. It occurred to Vader that he had no mesos to buy with when he walked in, but when he put his hands in his pockets, he found that he had about 5k. 5k! That was an immense amount of money by Maple Island standards, but he soon found that for a Guardian, that was embarrassingly small. He ordered himself a plate of spicy curry and a cup of water, and that spent about 4.5k of mesos. Vader sat down, isolated, and started eating. The food was good, and much to his joy, nobody attempted to talk to him. On the TV was some news. Every news report was exactly the same. Stories about Guardians defeating some renegade Dark Follower, saving some idiot noob from monsters, saving villages from fire…. After a while, all these hero stories got boring, and Vader focused on his food instead. Apparently, other Guardians agreed with him, because one of the Assassins requested the bar tender that he change the channel, and in an instant, they were all watching sports instead. It was a bizarre game that Vader was wholly unfamiliar with. After finishing his food, Vader went back to the cabins.

After everyone fell asleep, the five started talking, unable to sleep.

"When we get to the Island, what are you going to be Vader?" asked Vulpes, from Violet's pocket.

"Probably a Mage. I prefer not to get involved with physical fights," said Vader.

"Chicken," said Vulpes.

"Yeah, because you're an ass kicking Dragon Knight, right?" asked Vader.

"No. I'm not becoming a Warrior. That dream's gone. I found my real talent. Ever since the Invasion, I've been growing fond of the dagger. Think I'll become an ass kicking Bandit instead," said Vulpes.

"Being a Thief requires a lot of intelligence and cunning. Not sure if you meet the requirements," said Vader. Vader felt lucky Vulpes was a pencil, and couldn't hurt him.

"What about you Vi? What will you become?" asked Dre.

"Me? A Wizard. Somebody's gotta keep an eye out on Vader's training," said Vi.

"Assassin's what I'll be. I still got Steelies Munchy gave me, and that Claw. Steelies are almost out, but I'll recharge it the moment I set foot on Vic," said Dre.

Vader stared at the ceiling. Yes, a new adventure was about to start. For the first time ever, they were about to become true Guardians, not just Beginners playing wannabe Guardians. A new life was ahead of them. In a new world.


	6. Chapter 6: Trouble Brews

Chapter Six: Trouble Brews

After about two hours of sleep, Vader woke up. The ship stopped rocking, but it still bustled and rocked due to all the Guardians getting up and ready to leave the ship. Vader and the gang got out, and was immediately blasted with hot sunshine.

"'Ave a nice trip!" shouted Shanks, to everybody leaving.

The moment they stepped off the ship, they noticed how thinned out the number of Guardians were. There were so many back at the ship.

"Guardians travel fast, meow," explained Munchkinz, "Many of them can Teleport, or use skills to increase their speed, meow. There are always return scrolls too, of course. We have plenty of those, meow."

"Can we turn back to our real forms now? This pencil form is really TICKING ME OFF!" screamed Vulpes.

"Alright, alright, meow. Here, see that tollbooth? Go behind it and take your rings off. Don't want anybody seeing you change back, meow."

And they did. Vader took off his ring first, then Violet, then Dre, and then finally, Vulpes. Vulpes and Dre were both naked when they transformed back, so they were allowed to transform and get in their clothes alone. Both of them dressed incredibly fast.

"I need my old clothes back. This smock isn't doing me any good," said Vi.

"I agree, meow. Here's your old clothes," said Munchkinz.

Violet and Vader then took turns changing into their normal clothes.

"Now what?" asked Vader.

"We'll have to get you two to Elinia and Kerning City, meow. Unfortunately, I've never been to Victoria Island either, and I don't know how these things work, meow."

Vader looked around and saw a sign that said the place was called Lith Harbor. The town, even from a distance, reminded him greatly of Southperry. It was bustling with activity. There were sailors, with their tiny ships, all over the place, selling seafood and other goods. People on the street had seafood like fish and chips, shrimp popcorn, and others.

"I'm hungry," said Vulpes.

Vader wasn't all that hungry, because he'd had some curry back at the ship. The others however, did not.

"Me too. I want something to eat dammit!" said Vi.

"Hold on, meow, we need to-"

"HEY THERE! Little Bginners eh? WELCOME TO VICTORIA ISLAND!"

All five of them jumped up at the person who shouted behind them, and turned around. It was a beaming young man, standing behind the tollbooth, behind where they transformed and changed. The booth was empty before.

"Who are you, meow! You scared us, meow!" said Munchkinz.

"Sorry. My name is Phil, my friends. I operate the docks of Lith Harbor, and I also help out little Beginners like you reach your destinations to become full-fledged Guardians, helping to protect and serve our good island!"

Vader took a better look at this, Phil. He had a long, jet black hair that came down to his waist and was tied into a ponytail. His eyebrows were thick, and he was wearing what Vader recognized as the officer uniform of the Royal Maple Transportation Service, or RMTS. The RMTS was an organization that regulated all and any transportation on Victoria Island, Ossyria, and beyond.

"Where would you like to go? Perion, the harsh, tough home of the bravest Warriors? Or maybe Elinia, the mystical, enchanted forest that houses the wisest of Mages?" chirped Phil.

Vader noticed that Munchkinz was reading what appeared to be a map. He looked up from the map and spoke to Phil.

"We need to get to Elinia and Kerning City, meow," said Munchkinz.

Phil grinned and started speaking.

"Sure thing! That'll be…. Four tickets, two to Elinia and two to Kerning City! Excellent! We don't collect charges on pets. That'll be 5k please."

Vi took out 5k from her pocket and handed it over. After putting it in the register, Phil gave them tickets.

"See that fella over there?"

As he said that, Phil pointed to a man not too far from the booth. He was a sailor, a gruffy looking man with a bottle of beer in his hands. He was tanned, muscular, and had a beard. Next to him was a small, dingy boat.

"His name's Pason. Give him the ticket and he'll take you," said Phil.

"Thanks, meow," said Munchkinz, happily.

The crew started walking towards Pason.

"I'm huuuuuuuuungry," said Vi.

"I'm sorry, meow, but we'll all have to wait. We're on limited funds, and we can't afford to waste any mesos than we have to, meow."

After jumping across a few latches, and ignoring loud sales pitches of various sailors, ("Cheapest shrimp meat in Lith Harbor! Caught this morning!", "Delicious Lorang meat! Great for roasting!"), they finally got to the sailor, Pason. Vader was surprised by a large shark dangling from what appeared to be a large gallow. The shark was either completely dead, or a little bit alive. Either way, it was massive. Much larger than Vader. He could have sworn he saw its eyes move a little.

"You Pason, meow?" asked Munchkinz.

The sailor woke up, and started drawling slowly.

"That's me. Pason the Sailor, at your service."

"We have tickets, meow. Take us to Elinia and Kerning City, meow," said Munchy.

Pason thought for a second, and started laughing.

"What's wrong, meow?"  
"Bought those from Phil didn't you? That dirty old rascal. Looks like he jipped money off of you, hahaha."

The gang turned around to see Phil running away.

"GET THAT PIECE OF SHIT, MEOW!"

They didn't need further encouragement, as they all started to chase Phil with everything they had. Scared, Phil jumped on board a docked LS Victoria, Vader quickly blocked his exit, while the others guarded the rest of the ship, so that he couldn't jump either.

"It's over, meow! GIVE US BACK OUR MONEY OR WE'LL PWN YOU SO HARD, YOU'LL WISH YOU WERE A SNAIL AT A ZAKUM MAP, MEOW!"

"You'll never catch me!"

Phil put his 5k in his mouth, and jumped on the ship's mast, and started climbing his way up to the Crow's Nest. In about a minute of climbing, he got up there.

"AHAHAHA! YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE! NEVER! HAHAHAHAHAHA-"

Phil's laughing was cut short with an extremely loud screech from Munchkinz. After much screaming, meowing, and what sounded like the sound of cat claws digging deep into the human flesh, some blood splattered out of the nest, and Munchkinz jumped out, smiling. Being a cat of course, he landed on his feet.

"Stupid noob. Cats can climb faster than humans, meow. What a fucking loser. Let's go, meow."

Scared, and amused at the same time, they followed Munchkinz.

"I'm scared," said Vulpes.

For the next couple hours, the gang hung around aimlessly at Lith Harbor. Eventually, Munchkinz gave in and allowed them to purchase some food, with 3k. They got themselves some delicious fish and chips, and a bowl of crab salad. But all in all, they were directionless.

"We need to get to Elinia and Kerning City right? How do we do that?" asked Dre.

"I don't know, I'm just itching to kick some Dark Follower ass already!" said Vulpes.

"Sit your noob ass down, noob. Damn it, I don't know meo-"

Munchkinz jumped up in glee, as if something dawned on him.

"We have to get these to one of the Misters, meow."

"Those old Asian bank guys?" asked Vi.

"Yeah, those meow. Old Mr. Kim ought to be here somewhere, meow…."

Munchkinz got up, and everybody followed him, with their heavy luggage. They walked out of the busy harbor, and into a more calmer part of Lith, the villages. The buildings in Lith were constructed from white stone, like in Southperry.

"Looking for me, eh?"

Vader turned around for the speaker. It was an old Asian man. He was dressed in what appeared to be silk, Chinese garment, and had on bottle-cap glasses that obscured his eyes.

"Mr. Kim! Good to see you, meow," said Munchkinz.

"You've heard of me? Funny, most Beginners haven't. Most Beginners don't have no pets either," said Mr. Kim.

"We aren't just Beginners! See my brother here? He killed a Mushmom! And I'm thousand times stronger than him!" said Violet.

"Vi, shut up," said Vader.

"Killed a Mushmom, eh? Kids these days, making up such insane stories…" he grumbled.

"We have some things we need to store in the bank, meow. You're one of the Old Men who run the bank, meow."

"That I am."

Mr. Kim straightened himself out a little.

"Certainly have a lot of goods for Beginners, eh? We'll have to discuss making a new account…."

"No need, meow. We'll put this in Mandraken's existing account, meow."

Mr. Kim was a bit taken back, presumably by the fact that these Beginners had an account, apparently.

"Alright then. But that account is a Premium Service, Silver Plan. I am going to need the mark of verification," said Mr. Kim

Munchkinz pulled out a small, blue rock from thin air, and lobbed it at the man with his tail. Kim caught it, and examined it carefully. After waving his hand over it, the blue stone seemed to radiate an aura, or essence, that Kim absorbed. He threw to stone back at Munchkinz.

"Verification accepted," said Mr. Kim.

The man raised his hands, and after giving a small quake, the ground behind him split, and from it, a large box appeared. Kim took out a key and undid the lock to the box, and opened it. The box's inside glowed a mysterious blue glow.

"Give me everything you wish to leave with the bank," he ordered.

Munchkinz motioned towards the luggage. The gang handed over all their heavy goods to Mr. Kim, who effortlessly pulled it up with one hand and threw it in the box. After everything was done, he closed the box, and locked it again. The box went back inside the crack it came from, and the crack itself disappeared.

"Pleasure doing business with you," said Mr. Kim as he bowed. The gang walked away.

"Quite the character isn't he?" said Dre.

"Yeah, interesting guy," said Vader.

"What a fucking weirdo," said Violet.

"We got rid of the weight, but we still have no idea how to get to Elinia…."

"Did someone say, Elinia?"

Vader jumped and turned around again.

"GODDAMNIT! STOP SURPRISING US LIKE THAT!" screamed Vi.

"Sorry."

This voice was different from the rest. This speaker wasn't a man. Rather, it was what appeared to be a car. A black car to be exact. A black cab to be even more exact. The dark, tinted windows rolled down, and a rather greasy looking man answered.

"The VIP Taxi Cab driver, at your service. I drive the VIP Taxi Cab, friends. For a low price of just 10k, I will take you to the land of your dreams."

"10k? Forget it, meow," said Munchy.

"Buut, since you all look like Beginners, and you're probably low on mesos, I will give you a discount. Just 1k from each of you will do. That's 4k," said the greasy man.

Munchkinz considered it for a second.

"4k, eh? Alright."

He motioned to Violet, who took out 4k and gave it to him. The driver smiled.

"Excellent! Get in boys and girls!"

The four got into the cab. It was a nice car alright, very comfortable. It smelled of that distinct cab smell.

"Here we go!" said the driver.

The driver pulled the gear all over the place, and suddenly, the car began to levitate. He floored it, and everything turned weird in color. It was a strange sight to behold. Through the window, Vader felt as if the world has turned into a film negative. Then, an even stranger thing happened. Everything started to swirl, and then the color turned into bright lines that raced along the car. Vader felt himself being pressed to the seat, from the sheer speed of the vehicle.

"Um, excuse me, meow? But don't you want to know where we're going, meow?" asked Munchkinz.

"Oh, don't worry. I don't need instructions where I'm going," said the driver.

Before Vader, or anyone else for that matter, could object, the car came to a sudden halt. The world stopped swirling and racing like watery paint outside the window, and reverted to its original, film-negative form. Then slowly, the colors came back to normal.

"Here we are. Thank you for choosing the VIP Taxi!" said the driver.

"What? This isn't Elinia, meow! This isn't even Kerning City!" said Munchkinz.

"I know! This is Sleepywood! Isn't it wonderful? Have a safe trip kids!"

The driver slammed all the doors on his car shut, then the car raced away into the sky, and disappeared.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD MEOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"

With just one look around, Vader could tell they were not where they were suppose to be. They appeared to be standing in a dense jungle of sorts. There were jungle vegetation everywhere, the ground was moist, brown mud, and steamy mist covered everything.

"This is terrible meow…."

"Hey, I kind of like this place! It's all jungle-y! Wonder if we can find some monsters to kill," said Vulpes.

Suddenly, Vader heard a familiar hiss, and in a millisecond, they all turned around and whipped their weapons out at the hisser. Again, Vader noticed that he was utterly weaponless. The hiss came from a tiny, green snake Vader recognized as a Jr. Neckie, one of the monsters that invaded his home earlier.

"KILL IT!" screamed Munchy.

Vi was the first to react. She blasted a blue bolt out of her wand, but the snake dodged it effortlessly and crawled away.

"Those snake things! I FUCKING hate those!" screamed Dre, fuming.

"Stay together, meow!" said Munchkinz.

It was ironic Munchy said this just as the gang was instantly bombarded with no less than 7 Slimes at once. The efforts by the gang to fend off the Slimes were completely futile. One of the Slimes made a full-body slam on Vader. The Slimes' bodies were acidic. It wasn't powerful acid like Curse Eye blood, but it was acidic, mildly, and burned Vader a bit. Vader wrestled the Slime off quickly, but then the Neckies started coming in. And there were at least three dozen of them.

"STAY TOGETHER!" screamed Munchy.

However, it was too late. Dre had started screaming, and ran away, flinging Steelies. Vi and Vulpes were still fighting, but barely. Munchy was an apt fighter, but his small size rendered him rather useless against the Slimes, which left the humans to fend off for themselves.

The ground beneath Vi and Vulpes began to crack, and suddenly, broke off. The monsters chased after them, through the hole left by the ground cracking. Vader, shaken, looked down the hole, and saw only bluish white mist.

"Oh my God, oh my God…."

Vader clutched at his chest, and picked himself up, then ran away. He was battered by jungle plants and forestation, and had some narrow run-ins with Jr. Neckies and Slimes. He even saw a few Green Mushrooms. Vader did not like this at all. It was reliving Maple Island Invasion all over again. His feet hurt from the running, and his body was aching like no other, but at this point, he wasn't even complaining. He was too scared to think about anything, or notice how hurting he was. After much running, he suddenly crashed into someone and landed flat on the ground, and screamed.

"WOAH! Woah, woah! It's ok! I'm not a monster!" said the man Vader lunged in to.  
Vader calmed down and took a better look at the man. He was tall, and much older than he was. He was wearing gold and black outfits and a golden crown, outfits he recognized as a mark of only the highest ranking Guardians.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Vader nodded.

"What are you doing here? Are you a Beginner?"

Vader nodded again.

"This place isn't safe for Beginners, at all. There are monsters everywhere, finding your way is like going through a maze…. It's also a gathering center for Dark Followers. I see you don't even have a weapon. You're not safe here at all," said the man.

"I know. We got here by accident?" said Vader.

"We? Who's we?" asked the man, puzzled.

"Me and my friends. They have weapons. We took the VIP Taxi Cab at Lith, and the driver, that stinking pig fucker, dropped us off here. We got attacked by monsters, Dre ran away, the other guys fell through a hole when the ground broke off and… and…."

Vader stopped talking and started sobbing.

"Woah, calm down. Alright, just be cool man. We'll find your friends. My name's ClericKilla, but you can just call me Killa for now. I'm a Guardian, a level 53 Wizard. I'm an Elite Guardian. I'll help you."

The Guardian's voice helped to calm Vader down.

"Now…. Tell me what happened," asked Killa.

Vader told him the whole story of how they got here, starting from when they landed in Lith.

"That VIP Driver…. He was always a scumbag for as long as I knew him. I've had my share of trouble with that scummy man."

"So can you help us?" asked Vader, hopefully.

"I think I can. I have a way for you guys to get to where you need to be. But first, we need to find your friends right? I'll help you with that," said Killa.

Killa gave Vader a small bat to use as a surrogate weapon for now. The bat reminded Vader of one Dre used to use, and made him feel safer. They wondered around the jungle for a while, and Vader started to realize what Killa meant when he said this place was an absolute maze. It was utterly impossible to see anything, at all. The deeper they went, the thicker the mist became, until it turned into a fog. However, Killa was able to conjure up a fog-killing light from his wand, allowing them to see. They encountered a few monsters, but nothing Killa couldn't destroy.

Vader was explained the general mechanics of this jungle by Killa. Apparently, Sleepywood was divided into two sections: the Main Forest and the Lower Levels. The lower levels were more desolate, and cut off from society, while the Main was more tame and closer to the Sleepywood Village, a small residence where the human population of the jungle lived. He suspected that if what Vader saw was true, his friends were probably in the Lower Levels.

After about thirty minutes of walking, they drifted into what appeared to be a marshy swamp. The jungle was still present, and they could tell they were still in Sleepywood. Just a swampier section of Sleepywood.

"Is this where they are?" asked Vader.

Killa nodded.

"Be careful, and watch your step. This is the Sleepywood Marshes. Dangerous things live here," said Killa.

Vader raised his bat in a fighting stance and walked right behind Killa, who had his wand raised in case of combat. They were surprised a few times by birds, but nothing attacked them seriously. Yet.

Suddenly, Vader heard something in the distance.

"_Hurry Slag…. My energy grows weary…."_

"Did you hear that?" asked Vader.

"Hear what?" said Killa.

"_Yes…. Yes…. Fresh blood…."_

"Ok, I heard that this time. This way!" said Killa.

Vader ran after Killa in search for the master of the voice, when suddenly, Vader stumbled on to one of the most bizarre things he'd ever seen in his life. There were a large, black rock sticking out of the swamp, and around it, a glowing, red circle full of weird letters, symbols, and hieroglyphs was floating up and down. On to the rock, Vi, Dre, and Vulpes were tied with a strange, green rope, unconscious.

"VI! VULPES! DRE!" screamed Vader.

Vader couldn't take it, and ran to his knocked out friends. He didn't notice Killa yelling at him not to. Suddenly, a burst of blue light came out of nowhere, shooting straight at Vader, but was blocked by Killa, who conjured a shield with his wand. All this happened in less than 2 seconds.

"What's going on?" asked Vader.

"Stay put!" said Killa.

Vader heard a terrible roar, and he looked up to see the man behind the roar. A large figure in black, draping cloak with a large, black staff in one hand. The man swung his wand in the air, and a black bag appeared. The bag unsealed itself, and before they knew it, Vader and Killa were surrounded by five monsters. The man in black fled, quickly.

Vader didn't know what to make of the monsters surrounding Killa and himself. For one, they were huge. And he meant, huge. Vader's entire body was about as large as the lower part of their leg. Another thing he noticed was that they appeared to be made entirely from black stone. Kind of stone you'd expect to find in a volcano. Their bodies were extremely carefully constructed, giving them a robot-like appearance. Their eyes glowed a menacing red, and their bodies were covered with swamp vegetation and moss.

"Dark Golems! Vader, protect your friends, and I'll handle them!"

Vader instinctively ran towards his friends, while Killa jumped in the air and waved his wand. A blue circle came around his entire body, and Vader heard an extremely loud crack in the air, followed by a wave of bluish white light that cleared up and moistened the air completely. This wave was followed with another, and another, and another. Vader saw what was happening. Killa was jumping from Dark Golem to Dark Golem, waving his wand and summoning what appeared to be powerful lightning bolts out of nowhere. The Dark Golems themselves were no Snails either. Their massives fists swung the air, devastating anything it hit, even other golems. Their feet, whenever it moved, caused the ground to rumble and quake. It was a terrifying, yet almost beautiful, sight to behold, the blue of Killa's lightning mixing and melding with the dark of the Golems and the red of the fires started by the lightning on the green of the swamp. If Vader wasn't so utterly terrified, he would have stopped to watch.

Instead, he was struggling with the rope holding his friends to the blue rock. It didn't come off easily. Matter of fact, it didn't come off at all. It refused to even budge. The rope seemed to be made of rock. When Vader tried to use his bat to undo it, it only snapped the bat in half.

Vader was suddenly knocked off his feet with a roaring thunder, and catapulted in the air, while swamp water filled his vision and nose. Vader, lying in the swamp, wet and disoriented, looked up to see a massive Dark Golem, ready to stomp him into destruction. Before he knew it though, there was a big, blue explosion that blinded him for a second. The extreme boom of the explosion also deafened his ears. When his sense came back, Vader felt tiny rubbles hitting his skin. He opened his eye, and saw a very tired looking Killa standing behind what used to be the Dark Golem before he blew it to smithereens.

"Are you alright?" asked Killa.

"I'm fine!" Vader yelled back.

Killa moved in on him, and towards the big rock.

"It's Aligator-Tonic enhanced rope, charmed to never break or undo itself…. A product of the Dark Way," said Killa.

He took out his wand, murmured something, and tapped the green rope and it undid itself, releasing his friends into the swamp. Vi woke up from the swamp water splashing her, as did Vulpes and Dre. Vader noticed how unbelievably worn out Killa looked, wet from swamp water, and covered with black grime, and even some blood. But he was too glad to see his friends back to ask him if he was alright.

"VI! DRE! VULPES!" he screamed.

"Where are we?" asked Vulpes.

"Where's Munchy?" asked Vi.

When Vi said that, they heard a tiny, faint voice.

"I'm over here…."

Vader turned around, and saw something orange behind the blue rock. Quickly, Vader reached in and pulled it out. It was Munchkinz, ripped apart. His legs were torn off, as was his head. His body was sliced open completely.

"Oh my God… MUNCHY!" cried Vi.

"I'm fine, meow…. That bastard depowered me, meow…. A pet loses its power when they're torn up like this…."

Killa walked up to them.

"I can fix it. This isn't the first time I've seen a pet depowered. It's nothing a good Guardian can't mend," said Killa, as Vader shoved Munchy's remains into his pocket.

"Who are you?" asked Vulpes.

"This is Killa. He's an Elite Guardian and he saved our lives," said Vader.

"Well, technically, I'm not an Elite Guardian yet, but I will be soon," said Killa, cheerfully.

"All I remember is falling, and then we got attacked by some guy in black. He beat us all with no weapons, and knocked me out. Anyway, good to see you again bro!" said Vi.

"That was a Dark Follower. I was sent here on a mission. Reports of Sleepywood Villagers being found dead, sliced open with all their insides taken. Taking a person's insides for use is a very dark practice. I was patrolling this area for a month, looking for the littler bugger, but when I found him, he summoned Dark Golems on me and ran."

Killa sighed after saying that, looking dejected, having come so close to his prey, then losing it. Vader felt slightly queasy, knowing what could have happened to Vi, Dre, and Vulpes if they weren't saved on time.

"He mentioned his name was Slag," said Vader.

"I'm sorry?"

"Slag. Remember I heard a voice earlier? Voice of the Dark Follower talking? There were two voices, and one of them called the other Slag," said Vader.

Killa seemed to think for a second.

"Slag, huh? Well, this is good news and bad news. Good news is, I may now know this Follower's name. But the bad news is, if what you're saying is true, there could be two of them…. Thanks anyway," said Killa.

"Thanks for saving us mister, but do you have any idea what we do now?" asked Dre.

Suddenly, Killa slapped his forehead.

"Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me. You guys are Beginners trying to become Guardians right?"

They all nodded.

"I can tell you're all powerful enough to become full-fledged Guardians now. If nothing else, you have the experience. I know I never ran into a Dark Follower and a Dark Golem when I was a Beginner! So, what are you gonna become?"

They told him.

"Mage and Thief eh? Good choice you two, on becoming mages. We magic users must stick together! Haha…. As for you Thieves…. You might have some trouble becoming one," said Killa.

"Why?" asked Vulpes.

"Well…. Eh, you'll find out on your own. So, if you want to become a mage, you'll have to find Grendel the Really Old and consult his knowledge. Grendel lives in Elinia. To be a Thief, you'll have to find the Dark Lord."

Killa pulled out four scrolls from his cloak. He gave two to Vi and Vader, and two to Vulpes and Dre. They were tightly wraped, and the ones Vader and his sister held were green, while Vulpes and Dre had black ones.

"These are return scrolls. They have magic on them so they take you exactly where they were created when you open them. The green ones will take you to Elinia, where Grendel is. The black ones, to Kerning City," said Killa.

"I don't know how I can ever thank you," said Vi.

"Haha…. Don't worry about it. Helping fledglings become true Guardians is a duty for Guardians like me. Take care!"

With that, Killa disappeared, and as instantly as he did, Vulpes opened his scroll, and vanished with a flash.

"I'll see you guys in Elinia after we become Guardians then?" asked Dre.

"Nah, Vader and I will go to Kerning City. Right Vader?"

"R-Right…."

Dre smiled and opened her scroll, and disappeared in a flash.

"TIME TO BECOME A GUARDIAN!" yelled Vi, before opening her scroll too. Vader looked at his, sighed, and opened up his scroll.


	7. Chapter 7: To Become a Guardian

Chapter Seven: To Become a Guardian

Opening the scroll was a strange sensation. Vader felt as though a giant picked him up and started spinning him around as fast as possible. He was completely levitated, and holding on to the piece of parchment that was the scroll for his dear life, while the world turned into a mass of grey cloud and his body was spinning out of control. Eventually, after a brief burst of light, Vader was dropped from a rather high distance on to ground, much to his pain.

Vader picked himself up, still in pain. He took a good look all around. He was in a large forest. It wasn't a messy, dark jungle like Sleepywood was. However, it wasn't like any other forests he'd been in either. There were trees, but the trees were absolutely immense. Massive didn't even begin to cover it. Vader always thought he'd seen the biggest thing in his life with Mushmom. Mushmom didn't even compare to these trees. So massive they were, when vader looked up, he could see an entire world built on these trees. There were building built on them, people moving up and down them, people selling and buying goods, even a few cars here and there. It was a surreal sight. Surreal, yet beautiful.

Somebody bumped into Vader from behind.

"Woah! Excuse me fella. Beginner eh? Gonna become a Mage? Good luck my friend!"

The Guardian who bumped into him, who appeared to be a Bowman, bowed and left on his way. Although majority of Elinia's population appeared to be on the platforms built on the massive trees, there was still a considerable amount of people going to and fro the base of the trees, where Vader was standing.

"VADER!"  
Vader turned around, and saw his little sister, who promptly jumped on him.

"HAI BRO!" screamed Vi.

"Hey Vi. Good to see you made it here in one piece," said Vader.

"I found out from somebody that Grendel the Really Old's office is at the very top of this place," said Vi.

"We have to climb up all these trees?" asked Vader.

"Yeah, but it's not that bad because there are escalators that take us up."

Vader nodded. It didn't sound so bad, but the prospect of going up so high, even with escalators, was not a very palatable one.

_Meanwhile, at Kerning City…._

Vulpes was in for a rude fall. The scroll was not a very safe or comfortable way of travel. He lost hold of the parchment halfway through his "journey" but he still made it safely to Kerning City. Sort of. He landed, or perhaps more accurately, fell next to a taxi. He thought it was the VIP Taxi at first, and wanted to pull the driver out and beat him to a pulp, when he realized that this was a Regular Taxi Cab. He couldn't find Dre anywhere, and less than a minute after he arrived, somebody rudely bumped into him.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" said Vulpes.

"'Ey, shut the fuck up, knobhead!" screamed the rude man, as he kept running.

Vulpes looked around the city. It was certainly an improvement over Sleepywood, somewhere he had no intention of ever returning to again as long as he lived. But it wasn't very nice either. It was a pretty dirty, poor city. The walls were made of crumbling red brick, and they were plastered with all kinds of graffiti. Shady figures covered the streets, and he couldn't spot any Guardians either, something that made him a bit nervous. No Guardians generally meant nobody to enforce the law, and thus anarchy….

"Vulpes!"

Dre ran towards him, squealing with delight.

"Dre! Good to see you!" said Vulpes.

"Is this Kerning City?" asked Vulpes.

"I guess it is. This place is so cool! Some guy over there asked me, 'Hey baby, how much is it?'. I told him, 'I don't know, my friend's cat gave them to me,' and he ran away."

"Ok. We need to find this Dark Lord guy right?"  
"I guess so," said Dre.

"Alright, which one of you Shieldfucks said Dark Lord?"

Vulpes and Dre both turned around when they heard that behind them. They were faced by three men. They were all dressed rather laughably, in loose clothing, with clearly fake jewelry hanging from their necks and fingers.

"And who the Hell are you three? The Kerning City Circus?"

Vulpes and Dre both laughed at Vulpes' comment, but the men didn't look too amused. One of them started pushing Vulpes.

"Listen up Shieldfuck, you'll ge' the fuck out of Kerning 'fore I vred you with my britva. Got that?"

Vulpes was so shocked he couldn't even move.

"We may be Beginners, but we're still Guardians. You can't treat a Guardian like-"

Before Vulpes could finish his sentence, the guy pulled a red razor blade and slashed him across the face with it.

"'Viat that Sheldfuck Jax! Fuckin' snail the mothe'fucker!" screamed the man's friends.

Vulpes held his face, bleeding, and the man raised his razor for a second, possibly fatal, blow. Before the razor could connect with Vulpes' neck however, Dre raised her hand and quickly flick swung it in the air. A Steely flew in the air and stabbed the man his right arm. He dropped his razor, screaming. Then, without warning, Vulpes drew out his small field dagger and plunged it into the man's leg, after which he pulled it out with equal speed, jumped up, and slashed one of the goons across the face. The remaining goon pulled out a dagger of his own, but was quickly given two Steelies in the leg, causing him to hobble over, screaming and bleeding.

"That's what you get for messing with Guardians. Now run along," said Vulpes.

"I'll viat you fo' this shieldfuck! Cueball nozz you' ass and viddy you in you' shieldfuck blood!"

The goons then ran away, or more accurately, hobbled away, seeing as to how their injuries forbade them from running.

"That was a close one. Now, to find Dark Lord…."

"Hey Vulpes?'

"Yeah?"  
"How did we just fight those guys off? I mean, I don't reckon I've never seen you jump and fight that hard before."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now let's goooo!"

_In Elinia…._

Vader thoroughly enjoyed his trip up to Grendel's place on the escalator. Along the way, he saw no less than a dozen Elite Guardians, and some fairies. Vader didn't think those things were real. He always thought they were stuff of legends. But they had wings, and floated and everything. There was a potion store, and a weapon shop (which Vader vowed he would visit at least once during this stay). There were other, more interesting, places as well. There was a restaurant called "The Wizard's Palate", an ice cream shop, a shop selling sporting goods, a shop selling books called Jansen's. The ride, though no less than fifteen minutes in length, felt over in a second.

"Here we are," said Vi cheerfully, "Wonder what he looks like? I mean what kind of weirdo calls himself Really Old?"

"A really old guy?" said Vader.

Grendel's house was magnificently huge, but somehow managed to be topped on the top of the tree without falling off.

"Let's go in eh?" said Vi.

"You think he just leaves the door open?"

Vi answered his quest with a simple motion, when she easily pushed the doors into the place open.

Grendel's house was very well lit. In more ways than one, it reminded him greatly of his father's lab, one he kept deeply concealed from everybody, except Coffeeduck, his mother. There wasn't as many colorful things that whizzed and went boom, but there were certainly many, many books. Being an avid reader, Vader wondered if the old mage would mind him reading these books. To the corner was a small brown dog. A Guardian pet. It was asleep.

"Do my eyes deceive me? I have a visitor!"

A voice boomed out through the library. The speaker wasn't loud, but the house's structure meant any sound made rang out completely. Vader's ears hurt a bit.

There was a man walking out of the staircase from upstairs of the house. He was tall, very tall. Perhaps twice Vader's height, and Vader was not short. Vader was somewhat disappointed when he saw how much of a stereotypical wizard Grendel was. He had a long white beard, white outfit, and everything. He couldn't quite make his eyes out, due to the length of his eyebrows.

"A visitor! How delightful this is. I was just having some tea and crackers while watching "The Snail Ate My Baby", my favorite TV show! Would you like to join me?" said Grendel.

"Ummm…. Are you Grendel the Really Old?" asked Vi.

Grendel, without warning, jumped off the staircase and levitated his way down to Vader and Vi.

"Yes, yes I am. Grendel the Really Old, the Chief Magus of the Wizarding Division of the Guardian Order, are your service young lady."

Grendel smiled widely, and Vader could almost see his eyes.

"We're, uh, Beginners. And we wanted to consult you on becoming a… you know, Guardian," said Vader.

"Oh, yes! Of course, of course. Come on in, why don't you? Please take off your shoes. My dog, Pepperus, doesn't like mud at all."

Vi and Vader took off their shoes and walked into Grendel's house. The carpet was warm, and gave Vader a good feeling in his body.

"So, you want to be Guardians eh? Let me take a good look at you both then."

Grendel stood Vader upright, like a soldier, unusual for Vader, since he was drooping most of the time. Grendel took a good look at him for a few seconds, then did the same to Vi.

"Eh, you two both seem to have the goods. Yeah, you'll both make fine Mages. From this day forth, I, Grendel the Really Old, declare…. Oh, I forgot. I'll need your Blood Names," said Grendel.

Everybody had two names in their lives: Their names, and their Blood Names. A person's name was simply what they were called, or referred to by. It could be changed at any time, was fluid, and held no significance. Vader for example, could become Vulpes the next day if he only made a choice to change his name as such. Blood Names however, were much more permanent. Blood Names were special names that held a tight bond with a person. It revealed their nature, their relationship with their parent or legal guardian, their mind, their spiritual stability…. The Blood Name, in the wrong hands, could help a person as much as it could absolutely destroy them. Because of the extreme power it holds, Vader and Vi were both told to conceal their Blood Names and NEVER reveal them to anyone under any circumstances, as were most children. However, they Vader decided that Grendel was safe.

"LordVader92."

Grendel smiled.

"I, Grendel the Really Old, declare you, LordVader92, a Magician under the Guardian Order forevermore. And you young lady?"

Vi swallowed. She had always hated her Blood Name.

"Fearlin," she said quietly.

"I, Grendel the Really Old, declare you, Fearlin, a Magician under the Guardian Order forevermore. And what a lovely Blood Name you have."

Grendel smiled again.

"Is that it? That's it? We're Guardians, just like that?" asked Vi.

"Oh, I nearly forget again! My age has caught up to me, a fact I am reminded every waking moment. Follow me, please."

The two siblings followed the old wizard as he walked up the stairs, to one of his bookcases. He levitated to one of the highest shelves, then came back down seconds later with a pair of very dusty books.

"These, are Introduction to Magic. These are skillbooks that will help you hone your skills as a Magician. Use them well."

As Grendel said this, the words "Into to Magic" appeared on the blank surfaces of the books.

"Now, would you like to stay for some cookies and milk?"

Although Vi and Vader had both insisted strongly that they leave, Grendel insisted even harder that they stay for cookies and milk, and perhaps even dinner, because he didn't get much company and lonely, according to him. This struck Vader as odd.

"I was under the impression you were a very busy man. I thought Beginners would be lined up in front of your house, waiting to be tested and made into Guardians," said Vader.

"In the olden days, this was somewhat true, yes. But when the System started getting involved, things turned messy," said Grendel.

"The System? Who are they?" asked Vi.

Vader was curious as well. The System…. He'd heard the name back on Maple Island. They were responsible for sending Vulpes' and Dres' parents to the Deep. Who were they?

"The System of United Concerned NPCs, SUCN officially, but everybody prefers the System," said Grendel.

This answer opened up more questions than it answered, but thankfully, Grendel continued.

"Are you familiar with the concept of Mana?" asked Grendel.

Vi looked at Vader.

"Uh, my dad mentioned it to me once, but I forgot," said Vader.

"Mana is the life force that unites life, and the world it exists in, together. It's an exceedingly difficult concept to understand altogether. Some people prefer to think of it as stuff that souls are made from. I'm afraid, for now, you will have to settle with that definition. Some say Mana is produced by the body, others say the GM Gods produce it. Again, Mana is an exceedingly difficult subject that many scholars have spent entire lifetimes studying," said Grendel.

Grendel drank some milk and continued.

"There are some people who are more…. In-tune with Mana. These people compose roughly 40 of humanity. It's difficult to determine exactly how many of them become Guardians, but that's besides the point. Some people have been gifted with the ability to channel their Mana, and tap into certain…. Powers that the human body was not normally built to accommodate. These, "powers", for a lack of better term, manifest themselves in many ways. Notably, those in-tune with Mana do not grow old as fast, and can heal minor wounds much quicker over time, I'm sure you've noticed?"  
Vader and Vi nodded.

"Good. Mana is the source of a Guardians' power. When in danger, even the lowest Guardians can subconsciously tap into their Mana and bring out strength they didn't know they had. The whole point of training of course, is learning to bring out these strengths at will, as opposed to only on emergencies. However, as I've noted before, people who are in-tune with their Mana are a minority. Over time, people have grown to distrust Mana-Sensitive folks. The Dark Followers did little to help prevent that, of course. Non-Powered Citizens, or NPCs, formed the System in response to the Guardian Order. The System believes that the Guardian Order is not sufficient to protect NPC folks. They've been discouraging people from joining the Guardian Order. Many people in-tune with Mana seek to cast their die with the System."

"But why?" asked Vader, puzzled.

"There are many people out there who are in-tune with Mana, but very few of them can become Guardians. You'll find out all the gritty details later on."

Grendel pushed the cookie plate towards Vi and Vader, who were not eating much of it.

"Who are the Dark Followers?" asked Vi.

"Dark Followers are another hard subject. The System openly condemns them, but they employ many of them at the same time. Again, you'll find out all the gritty detail later. I don't want to 'spoil the surprise' so to speak. Are you familiar with the Kingpin and the Second War?"

Vi and Vader shook their heads.

"Has Mandraken never told you?" asked Grendel.

"How did you know Mandraken was our father?" asked Vader.

"There are many things I know about you two. I know that you can already cast an Energy Bolt Vi, a very impressive skill for somebody as young and inexperienced as you. I know that your friends, Vulpes and Dre, are both in Kerning City, to try and become Thieves. And, I know that you Vader, have killed a Mushmom in the past, but only by accident."

Vader found his mouth hanging open.

"When you get as old as I am, you become observant. A nasty habit, I have," said Grendel.

"I would have preferred Dre and Vulpes not become Thieves, however. Their dreams may be a bit shattered. Vulpes would have made a powerful Warrior, and Dre could have used herself as a good Archer," said Grendel.

"Why would their dreams be shattered?" asked Vader.

"You are leaving to meet them in Kerning City for yourselves tomorrow are you not? You can find out for yourselves, I am sure."

Grendel noticed that the two had finished their cookies.

"You may spend the night here. Tomorrow, you may leave to journey for Kerning. I have some leftover roast beef if you'd like dinner?"

Violet suddenly jumped in her seat. Vader was puzzled: She had never been a huge fan of roast beef.

"Can you fix a Guardian Pet?" asked Vi.

Vader pulled out torn apart Munchy from his pocket.

"Oh dear. How crude. Who did this?"

"Some guy named Slag," said Vi.

Grendel took Munchy's torn body into his hand, and waved his other hand over it. Suddenly, the pieces began assembling themselves, and before they knew it, Munchy was whole and alive again.

"Meow! I feel ALIVE!"

Munchy stretched.

"MUNCHY!" said Vi, with tears in her eyes.

Munchy yelped and jumped at his owner, and licked her mercilessly.

"Hey, what about me?" asked Vader.

Munchy kicked him in the face.

Munchy jumped in joy, before noticing Grendel.

"Lord Grendel! I- I didn't know-"

Grendel chuckled, and stretch his palm to the cat. Munchy leapt on it and yelped in joy.

"And what is your name little creature?" asked Grendel.

"Munchkinz sir. But everybody just calls me Munchy, meow" said Munchy.

The cat jumped about Grendel in joy.

_In Kerning City…._

Dre and Vulpes were both exhausted beyond reason. They'd walked all over the foul city of Kerning, all day, searching for the Dark Lord. People refused to give instructions, and at best, they were threatened with violence. The only "instructions" they got were solicitations from various suggestively dressed women.

"What pigs," spat Dre, on the latest woman who made a rather inappropriate offer to Vulpes.

"I don't mind. They're not entirely bad," said Vulpes.

Dre shot him a dirty look, when suddenly, they found themselves faced with a mob of people no less than five dozen people.

"More of you? Go on then, I'll take on all of you!" said Vulpes, raising his knife.

Much to the surprise of he and Dre however, the crowd started cheering for them, instead of attacking them. One of them came out and gave Vulpes a big hug.

"You did it! You did it! You drat those shaikas righ' out!" yelled the man.

"I don't understand," said Vulpes, locked in a bear hug.

"The Street Scorpions. Them devils been rubbin' us townsfolks for too long! You showed them, eh Gua'dian?"

Vulpes and Dre both stood confused. One of the cheering men screamed in the air.

"This calls fo' a pa'ty!"

The crowd cheered, and started carrying Vulpes and Dre.

"Where are you taking us?" asked Dre.

"Eh, to the Soda Club ptitsa. Peeting some sodaplus and 'avin some fun's what 's all about innit?"

"Speak English you!" said Vulpes.

The crowd carried them down to a place called Soda Club. If it had any other name, nobody knew what it was. Alcoholic beverages were illegal to drink under the age of 21 in Victoria Island, a law heavily enforced by the Guardian Order. Consequently, teenagers looking for drinks would often visit soda clubs that served various sodas and drinks laced with various drugs of their choice, effectively bypassing the law. Since carrying drugs in an establishment was perfectly legal, soda bars maintained images as clean, innocuous places, where in reality, they were serving drugs to underage kids. Soda Clubs grew in popularity all over the island, to the point where drugged up sodas, or sodapluses, as the slang went, replaced alcohol entirely.

Vulpes and Dre sat and watched while people ordered various things at the bar. One person ordered some coke with "a dash of blues" in it. Another person ordered some egg cream, with banana on the side. The egg cream in question of course, had "a pinch of red powder" in it.

One of the partiers approached Vulpes and placed a cup of sparkling, green fluid in front him, then a sparkling blue liquid in front of Dre.

"What is this?" asked Vulpes.

"Mountain Dew with some synthmesc innit," said the man, after drinking his own soda.

Vulpes picked up his soda and put it to his mouth carefully, then drank. It certainly had a kick. It had taste stronger than anything Vulpes had tasted before. He quickly cleaned out the cup, and Dre did the same.

"What are we celebrating about?" asked Dre.

"You bunch o' malchiks cracked a few Street Scorpion gullivers. Righ' good that was."

"Street Scorpions?"

"Eh. They a street shaikas, they are. A righ' baddiwad bratchnies they are. They've been a fucking the streets fo' some time now, eh, beating people up, robbin', oobviatin'. I'm glad a few Gua'dians here to save us though. Kerning'll be back to its old self, no time."

Dre whispered in Vulpes' ear.

"I think he's glad we beat up those guys," said Dre.

"No Guardians in this town?" asked Vulpes.

"Not anymo'e," said the man.

Vulpes started feeling a bit dizzy, and warm inside. He told Dre that he'd be getting some more of these sodas, and walked up to the bar. The bar tender was a tall, blonde woman who spoke in the same bizarre accent and slang everybody else seemed to speak in. Vulpes made his order, and the woman served him up a cup of fizzing orange soda, some black sodas with a dollop of ice cream on it, and a cup of red soda with a dollop. She told him it was for free, presumably, for his unknowing act of heroism back there.

Vulpes cleaned out all three sodas quickly, and his stomach felt a little heavy. Suddenly, the music started growing louder, and the lights became more liquid, melding into each other. As this happened, so did color and sound. It was an unfamiliar sensation, but one he enjoyed. The people were singing in praise of he and Dre, but all he wanted was some more soda. He walked up to the bar tender, and ordered for more by pointing at the signs and grunting. He figured if he could understand their language, they could deal with his grunting for a bit. He got his soda, which he cleared out, then everything went black.


	8. Chapter 8: The Dark Lord's Sleep Part 1

Chapter Eight: The Dark Lord's Sleep Part 1

Vader, Vi, and Munchkinz woke up the next morning. The early morning sunshine in Elinia was nothing short of utterly beautiful. Vader crept past to Grendel's bedroom, to say good bye and thank him before leaving, but saw that he was still asleep. Vader woke Munchkinz and Vi up.

"So early?" asked Vi.

"It's better if we get to Kerning as soon as possible. Kerning City isn't a very safe place when the sun goes down, I hear," said Vader.

Munchkinz nodded in agreement. Vader quickly wrote up a note and left it in the kitchen, for Grendel to read when he wakes up.

Dear Grendel,

Thanks for letting us stay for dinner and such for so long. But now, we must go down to Kerning City to search for our friends. Love, Vader and Vi.

Then, without looking back much, they left.

"How much do you have to walk to get to Kerning from here?" asked Vader, curious.

"Hm, not too far, meow. We ought to get there before sun sets completely, meow," said Munchy.

Climbing down all the trees, they started walking away from civilization, into the depths of the forests. Vader and Vi both felt slightly empowered.

"Yeah, I do feel a little stronger than before. Almost, happier," said Vi.

"Now that you're officially a Guardian, you're more in-tune with your Mana powers, meow. WATCH OUT!"

Three green Slimes jumped out of nowhere. Instinctively, Vi responded by blasting an energy bolt at one, exploding it into bits. Vader took out his small wand, and did the same to the other two slimes without even thinking. They both exploded as well.

"That was too close," said Vader.

"No biggie, meow. These are just Slimes, meow, they're much below you in terms of strength, meow. It's actually quite good training to fight as we walk down to Kerning City, meow. Besides, I hear Kerning isn't very friendly these days. You have to be well prepared."

And so, for the next few hours or so, the trio walked on, fighting random monsters, and encountering some Guardians along the way. The forest, while deep, was populated mostly with young, training Guardians, like themselves. Passing by these myriad Guardians, they gained a few new experiences.

They walked for hours, and hours, and hours. For what seemed like an eternity, they only walked, killing monsters on the way. By now, both Vi and Vader were extremely tired.

"Can we take a break?" asked Vi.

"No, meow! We have to go!"  
"Hey, why is the sky slowly turning grey?" asked Vader.

The sky slowly began turning grey, and the road began to get a little rougher. There were various metal pieces and concretes everywhere. After a few more minutes of walking, it became clear where they were. A construction site. The banging, clashing noises of construction covered the area, as did smoke, and-

"OCTOPUSES!"

Vi cried out, as the gang were assaulted by an octopuses. They blasted it with bolts, and it died.

"That was way stronger than what we faced before. I KNOW it was, OK?" said Vader.

"Damn right, it was."

They turned around, to find themselves face-to-face with a trio of men. They weren't quite Guardians, no. They didn't have the elegance of a Guardian. But they carried weapons, which suggests at least some combat training.

"Who are you, meow?"  
"I think the question is, who are you little fucks?" asked the leader punk.

"You punks better clear out, meow! We're of the Guardian Order!"

Without as much as a warning, they began launching all kinds of profanities at them, including "shieldfuck". Then, just as quickly, all three attacked. Vi was whipped across the stomach with a steel chain. Vader quickly shifted to his left, and bolted at one of them, stunning him. But the leader punk was too powerful. After knocking Munchy out of the way with a steel bar, he moved towards Vader.

Then, a flying Shuriken. And a flowing, red figure above them.

"In the name of the Dark Lord, and the Guardian Order, desist."


	9. Chapter 9: The Dark Lord's Sleep Part 2

Chapter Nine: The Dark Lord's Sleep Part 2

Chapter Nine: The Dark Lord's Sleep Part 2

The punks turned around. The flowing red figure merely stared at them, with a piercing gaze. Vader swallowed. He turned around. Everybody was just as tense. The man wasn't even doing anything, but his mere stance struck an atmosphere.

"In the name of the Dark Lord, and the Guardian Order, desist," he repeated.

"FUCK YOU, FUCKING SHIELDFUCK! BOYS, GET HIM!" said the Punk leader.

The Punks all leaped at the man. Vader's eyes widened. He didn't know people could even jump that high. Apparently, they could. The Man disappeared, causing the three punks to crash into each other in mid-air. Then, he grabbed their collars and threw them away, but not before planting a Steely into the leg of the leader punk. The leader didn't budge. He simply took the Steely out, and charged at the red figure, using it as a weapon.

"DIE SHIELDFUCK, DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"

The red man kicked the steely out of his hand, and then gave him one across the face, sending him flying into a wall.

"Leave, before my mercy wears thin, and my Steely grows fond of your throats."

The punks didn't need anymore encouragement. They all fled for the hills.

_2 hours later…._

Vi, Vader, and Munchy sat across a small fire, roasting sausages, while their savior stared at them silently. Violet hungrily devoured the sausages. Vader whispered to Munchy.

"Munchy, I'm scared. Who is this guy?"

"Shut up, meow. I think I have this situation all figured out. Let me do the talking, meow."

Munchy cleared his throat loudly, and began talking.

"So uh, thank you for saving us back there, meow! You're a Guardian, right meow?"

The man didn't reply. He only stared harder.

"What now?" asked Vader.

"If either of you two arrive here at Kerning City with the intention of becoming Thief class Guardians, I can only suggest that you leave. You are running a fool's errand," said the red man.

"Oh, noooo! You have it all wrong! We're Guardians already, see? Grendel the Really Old made us Mages, and we're just here to find our friends, who are trying to become Thieves," said Vi.

"Then it's all the more reason to head back. I would hate to see your foolish innocence shattered by the sight of your friends' mangled corpses."

Vi jumped up, and began screaming.

"Hey! Who said they were dead? They're pretty strong, you know! We've fought Dark Followers and a Mushmom before, so don't treat us like-"

"A noob. That's all you are: a weak little noob, with heads too big for your own good."

Vi fell into silence, and all the while, the man's face didn't change a bit.

"Can you help us find our friends at least, meow?" said Munchy.

"If you're so intent on finding them, you may do so yourself. I can never set foot inside Kerning ever again. Besides, these things are the duties of a true Guardian. If you are truly not noobs as you claim to be, you should have no problem on your own."

"What an asshole," said Vi.

"Vi! Shut up!" said Vader.

"Let the girl speak her mind. I have no qualms of it. You'll still have to find your friends by yourselves."

Vader felt a little disappointed, and Vi was angry as ever. Munchy sighed.

"Alright then. First thing tomorrow, meow. We'll go in town and look for those two, meow."

"But who were those guys who hit us? What if there are more of them?" said Vi.

"Run, don't fight. Run very fast," said the red thief.

In the corner of the Kerning City was a small bar, with pool tables, drugs, and girls to go around for anyone welcome. And in the center of this place sat Cueball, the head honcho of all chaos in the city, worried out of his mind.

"This is bad shit. All these Shieldfucks showing up out of nowhere. I thought the Guardian Order gave up on this place! What are they doing now?"

"Relax, Cueball. They're probably just lost nooblings," said one of the gangsters.

"They ain't no nooblings I ever heard of, man. Ain't no nooblings I know beat up all these guys in one day."

And watching this confusion from the corner, hidden in the shadows, was a figure. He smiled slightly. It'd been a long while since the Guardian Order had given him an apt challenge. Now was a good time to flex his Dark Way muscles. He spoke to Cueball, and his goons, who were under the impression they ran the city.

"Do stop whining, boys. They are indeed, nooblings, albeit, ones who got lucky. I sense them coming this way right now."

"Master Noru! I always knew you'd be able to solve these things!"  
Noru grabbed for his dagger. He smiled.


End file.
